Suppose you are in an elevator car when the elevator cable breaks. Which of the following correctly describes what happens and why.

A. You float weightlessly within the elevator car because Earth's gravity is no longer tugging on you.

B. You will remain stuck to the elevator floor as you and the elevator plunge downward toward a horrific crash.

C. You float weightlessly within the elevator car because you and the elevator both begin to accelerate downward at the same rate.

D. You will crash you head into the elevator car ceiling because Earth's gravity will be pulling the car down faster than it pulls you down.

E. You will crash you head into the elevator car ceiling because the car will be falling rapidly away from you.

Question

Physics

Clare Hodges

11 February, 23:57

Suppose you are in an elevator car when the elevator cable breaks. Which of the following correctly describes what happens and why.

A. You float weightlessly within the elevator car because Earth's gravity is no longer tugging on you.

B. You will remain stuck to the elevator floor as you and the elevator plunge downward toward a horrific crash.

C. You float weightlessly within the elevator car because you and the elevator both begin to accelerate downward at the same rate.

D. You will crash you head into the elevator car ceiling because Earth's gravity will be pulling the car down faster than it pulls you down.

E. You will crash you head into the elevator car ceiling because the car will be falling rapidly away from you.

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Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Clayton Hardy · Answer 1

C. You float weightlessly within the elevator car because you and the elevator both begin to accelerate downward at the same rate.

Explanation:

When the elevator rope is broken, the earth pulls the body with the acceleration of gravity, this part of the force of universal gravitation, to find the force we must multiply this acceleration by the mass.

The correct answer is C. since the acceleration on the two bodies is the same, therefore they have no relative movement between them.