chiuchebaba OP t1_jdg6p1i wrote on March 24, 2023 at 3:51 AM

Reply to comment by TheLuteceSibling in ELI5: if I stand on a weighing scale that is kept on top of a soft surface (like a carpet) why does it show lesser weight that what actually is? by chiuchebaba

Yes even I felt it shouldn’t happen.

And the scale isn’t really a box inside a box. But it has tiny footrests kind of thing at the bottom that are just around 1 cm tall. My guess is that the compression on the footrests gets translated into the measured weight but if I keep the scale on a soft surface then the body of the scale may come in contact with that surface instead of just the footrests. Thanks.

Trumpet1956 t1_jdgcrt3 wrote on March 24, 2023 at 4:50 AM

Yep, that sounds like what is going on. If the outside piece touches the material it would take part of the load and the scale would read less weight.