Re: [Phys-l] accelerometers

[Bernard Cleyet <bernardcleyet@redshift.com>]

This (below) reminds me of another thread:  What happens when one holds 
one end of a slinky (I did this from our second floor bedroom window.) 
and releases?

bc  who had GK video it from the deck below.

John Denker wrote:

> On 11/23/2006 11:41 AM, Stefan Jeglinski hypothesized:
>
>  
>
> > If I hold such an accelerometer in my hand (so that it is attached to 
> > my local reference frame), and suddenly an "ideal" trap-door in the 
> > floor opens (t=0) and me and my accelerometer fall through "in ideal 
> > fashion" (IOW pretend there is no drag, no rotation due to my spastic 
> > twisting when I realize I'm falling, etc), I submit that the 
> > accelerometer will not change its reading, even momentarily. From 
> > t=0, every particle in the accelerometer and me are falling together, 
> > and by looking at the accelerometer alone, it's as if we were still 
> > standing on the floor.
> >    
>
> This is an important and truly fundamental question.
>
> I recommend you do some experiments of this type.  The trapdoor
> version is inconvenient, but it suffices to dandle an accelerometer
> up and down in your hand.
>
> Also:  What do you think happens if you turn that accelerometer upside
> down?  (See next note for more on this.)
>
> Note that ordinary accelerometers (as shown in the picture) consist of
> little more than a mass, a spring, some damping, and a readout mechanism.
> -- You can make your own accelerometer using a small mass, a rubber
>  band, and a ruler.
> -- If you have spring scale ("fisherman's scale") and a suitable-sized
>  mass, that's even more convenient.
>
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