Question

Julia is holding a basket of apples that weighs 5 pounds. sammy keeps adding more apples to julia's basket and asks her to tell him when she notices that the basket is heavier. julia notices a difference when the basket's weight reaches 6 pounds. now julia is holding a basket of apples weighing 10 pounds. according to weber's law, how much additional weight in apples must be added for julia to notice a difference?

Answer 1

According to Weber's Law, Julia would need to have an additional 2 pounds of apples added to her 10-pound basket for her to notice the weight change, as 2 pounds represent a 20% increase which is the proportionate change she is able to detect.

Step-by-step explanation:

According to Weber's Law, the just-noticeable difference (JND) in a stimulus is proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulus. This means that, in order for Julia to notice an increase in weight, the added weight must be a constant proportion of the current weight of the basket. In the question, Julia first notices an increase in weight when the basket reaches 6 pounds from 5 pounds, so the JND is 1 pound on a 5-pound weight, which is 20% (1 pound out of 5 pounds).

Now, Julia is holding a basket weighing 10 pounds. To find the additional weight needed for Julia to notice a difference, we apply the same 20% proportion:

Additional weight needed = 20% of 10 pounds = 2 pounds

Hence, Julia would need to have an additional 2 pounds of apples added to her basket for her to notice the weight change, according to Weber's Law. The total weight of the basket would then be 12 pounds.

Answer 2

2 pounds need to be added for Julia to notice any additional weight. The Weber fraction notes that there is a linear relationship between the proportion of the amount added and the just-noticeable difference to any sort of stimulus. In this way, it is easier to notice a change in a small stimulus than it is for a larger one.