A student standing on top of a stool places a fishing weight of 1 Newton on her spring scale.?

Question

If she were to jump off the stool, while falling, the reading on the spring scale would read:
1. greater than 1 N
2. 1 N
3. less than 1 N
Explain your answer:

Answer 1

3, in fact, zero.

Student, scale, and weight are falling with acceleration g. The relative acceleration between the scale and the weight is zero, therefore there is no force to cause the spring in the scale to be extended.

Answer 2

1