Question

You find your mass to be 42 kg on a weighing machine. Is your mass more or less than 42 kg?

Answer 1

• A weighing machine is a spring balance that measures a body's weight and not its size. When we stand on the weighing machine, our weight, due to the earth's gravitational force, acts vertically downward.
• However, the buoyancy of air on our bodies acts vertically upward.  As a result, our perceived weight (actual weight minus buoyant force) is less than our true weight.
• Because the weighing machine evaluated our actual weight, our true weight is greater than 42 kg.