{"id":211,"date":"2020-04-14T21:26:56","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T21:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.physics.wisc.edu\/ingersollmuseum\/?page_id=211"},"modified":"2026-05-13T07:05:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T07:05:14","slug":"newtonscale","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.physics.wisc.edu\/ingersollmuseum\/exhibits\/mechanics\/newtonscale\/","title":{"rendered":"Newton Scale"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\" class=\"is-style-mini-bar wp-block-post-title\">Newton Scale<\/h1>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-base-background-color has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns alignnone is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-b4b75a54 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained has-global-padding wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WHAT TO DO<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list is-style-more-space\">\n<li>Step onto the scale.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Read your mass in kilograms!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WHAT IS HAPPENING?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This compression scale has a spring inside that compresses in proportion to how much gravitational <strong>force<\/strong> is applied to the scale, unlike the <em>Inertial Balance exhibit<\/em>, which uses an object\u2019s resistance to motion to demonstrate it\u2019s mass. The relationship between force and mass is given by Newton\u2019s 2<sup>nd<\/sup> Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><u>Newton\u2019s 2<sup>nd<\/sup> Law<\/u><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 1.125rem\" class=\"is-style-blockquote wp-block-uw-blocks-uw-quote\">\n\t<blockquote><em>The force,\u00a0<strong>F<\/strong>, on an object is equal to its mass, m, multiplied by its acceleration,\u00a0<strong>a<\/strong>, or\u00a0<strong>F<\/strong>=m<strong>a.<\/strong><\/em><\/blockquote>\n\t<div class=\"uw-quote-bottom-container\">\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For this scale, the force acting on the object is the force due to gravity (the object\u2019s weight). Since the acceleration due gravity is a constant (a=9.81 m\/s<sup>2<\/sup> = 32.2 ft\/s<sup>2<\/sup>), the readout of the scale shows your force divided by the acceleration due to gravity, or your gravitational mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i><b><a href=\"https:\/\/wiki.physics.wisc.edu\/facultywiki\/Demonstrations\">Physics Lecture Demonstration Database<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WHAT TO DO WHAT IS HAPPENING? This compression scale has a spring inside that compresses in proportion to how much gravitational force is applied to the scale, unlike the Inertial Balance exhibit, which uses an object\u2019s resistance to motion to demonstrate it\u2019s mass. The relationship between force and mass is given by Newton\u2019s 2nd Law. &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":50,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_uw_migration_status":"complete","_uw_gutenberg_post_content_before_migration":"","_uw_seo_meta_title":"","_uw_seo_meta_description":"","_uw_seo_twitter_card_type":"","_uw_seo_meta_image":"","_uw_seo_meta_image_url":"","_uw_seo_meta_image_sizes":[],"_uw_seo_custom_meta_tags":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-211","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.physics.wisc.edu\/ingersollmuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.physics.wisc.edu\/ingersollmuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.physics.wisc.edu\/ingersollmuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.physics.wisc.edu\/ingersollmuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.physics.wisc.edu\/ingersollmuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.physics.wisc.edu\/ingersollmuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":997,"href":"https:\/\/wp.physics.wisc.edu\/ingersollmuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/211\/revisions\/997"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.physics.wisc.edu\/ingersollmuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/50"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.physics.wisc.edu\/ingersollmuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}