Final answer:
Yes, you should scale your load if you suspect it may be overweight before reaching a weigh station. The scale in a free-falling elevator would show an apparent weight of zero. A trailer that bounces up and down slowly suggests it is likely heavily loaded due to the greater mass affecting its suspension system.
Step-by-step explanation:
If you feel your truck may be overweight, it's true that you should scale your load as soon as possible and before going through a weigh station. This helps ensure you're in compliance with weight regulations and can prevent fines and safety issues.
Understanding Scale Readings and Load Weights
When you're in an elevator and it's in free fall, the scale would not show your real weight. You would experience what's known as weightlessness, and the scale would show an apparent weight of zero because both you and the scale are accelerating downwards at the same rate due to gravity.
When you pass a freight truck and its trailer is bouncing up and down slowly, it is more likely that the trailer is heavily loaded. A nearly empty trailer would bounce up and down more rapidly due to having less mass to dampen the oscillation of the suspension system. In contrast, a heavily loaded trailer has more mass, leading to slower bounces as there is more momentum to overcome when the truck's suspension reacts to road irregularities.
Fish placed on a spring scale will compress the spring, resulting in the scale providing a measure of the fish's mass based on Hooke's Law. However, fishermen's reports on the mass of their catch may vary from the actual mass measured by the scale.