Did You Know?

As you begin to descend in an elevator, you suddenly feel lighter for a moment. As the elevator reaches a constant speed, you feel normal again. As it stops, you momentarily feel heavier. If you were standing on a scale, it would verify this sensation of an apparent change in weight.

What you are feeling is the result of acceleration--speeding up and slowing down--not an actual change in weight. But that woozy sensation you get as an elevator starts to descend does give you a brief sense of what it's like to feel "weightless."