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Actually, pedantically, "weight" is a "force", so it makes perfect sense to say we perceive weight when we carry something. Our arms must provide an equal and
by hsitz 10y ago
Actually, pedantically, "weight" is a "force", so it makes perfect sense to say we perceive weight when we carry something. Our arms must provide an equal and counteracting force to sustain the weight of objects we carry. "The weight of an object is usually taken to be the force on the object due to gravity. . . . " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight
- dragonwriter 10y ago> Actually, pedantically, "weight" is a "force", so it makes perfect sense to say we perceive weight when we carry something. Yes, but the "handles cutting into your fingers" is pressure not force.
- hsitz 10y agoWe're getting a little silly here, but I think it's both force and pressure. Any force will exert a corresponding pressure (which is merely "force per unit area"). To say that we don't feel the force of weight except as a pressure is getting overly pedantic; we don't generally think of carried objects as exerting a certain pressure on us, we think of them as being more or less "heavy", i.e., as having weight. Okay, the explanation for specific case of fingers being cut (while getting no cut in other cases) depends on the weight being applied to small area. . . :) But it is still perfectly true that the weight of the object cuts the fingers.