Question

A spring balance is suspended from inside an artificial satellite revolving around the earth. If a body of mass 1kg is suspended from it, what would be its reading?

(a) 1

(b) 2

(c) Depends on the mass of the satellite

(d) 0

I got this question during an interview.

This intriguing question comes from Weight of a Body topic in division Mechanical Properties of Solids of Engineering Physics I

Answer 1

Right answer is (d) 0

To explain: If a body of mass 1 kg is suspended from a spring balance inside an artificial satellite revolving around the earth, its reading will be zero. This is because the satellite is in a state of free fall.