Why cant we pick up our self's if we sitting in a chair?

Question

Why cant we pick up our self's if we are sitting in a chair with our legs also on top, what is stopping us from doing this?

Answer 1

gravity!

Answer 2

Why not ?

If you have long hands or if the height of the chair is less, we could apply a downward force on the ground, that would cause us to be lifted up the ground.

But you cannot pull the chair up to lift yourself beacuse of the funf\damental newtons third law which states that force occur in pairs. For evry force there is an equal and opposite reaction. So in this case, you cannot apply a upward force without applying a downward force. In other words, the forces cancell each other. Dont try too hard, you will get a sore *** ;-)

Answer 3

Your shoulders push down on your torso by the same force as your arms lift up on your legs.

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" - Newton.

Note to others, he's asking about *picking* yourself up, not pushing or pulling. One picks something up by grabbing *it* with one's hands and lifting.

Answer 4

Your body runs on a basic system of levers. You can totally pick your self up with your upper body....