My daughter is doing a science project on the effects of gravity on elevator riders,(loosing your stomach). I was wondering if there were any formulas that were used in designing elevators that delt with this topic or if there was any simular information that could be of use to her. Thanks for yor help

-- mike elliott (mdjmcd@tir.com), October 12, 1998

Answers

effects of gravity on an elevator rider

dear mike,

this is probably far too late for your daughter, but here goes.

Gravity is an acceleration. If you were in deep space with no gravity and the space ship you were in accelerated at 9.81m/s/s you would feel like you were back on earth.

Elevators accelerate to reach there operational speed, it is this rate of acceleration that determines how queasy you feel:

when travelling upward add the acceleration. eg. if a lift accelerated at 10m/s/s then you would feel twice as heavy, old people might even collapse

travelling downward with this level of acceleration would result in freefall as the accelerations are subtracted.

I'm not sure what the highest level of acceleration is for elevators before people start complaining but it is n't that high. the maximum speed of elevators is determined by the mechanical safety factors and the distance between floors in which they have to accelerate and decelerate. In conclusion if gravity were higher on earth then human resistance to upward acceleration would probably be better so trip times could be cut. the same principle applies for a lower earth gravity.

-- samuel vella (samuel_vella@hotmail.com), April 08, 1999.