In: Mechanical Engineering
How come in free fall you feel weightless even though gravity is pulling down on you? (ignore air resistance when answering this question).
Weight is defined as the normal force acting on your body due to gravitational force. In free fall, there is no normal force acting on your body, so that only you feel weightless. You can clearly understand by the following example.
If you stand on the ground, you can feel your weight on the bottom of your feet since the ground exerts an upward normal reaction force on your feet which is equal to the weight of your body. In free fall, there is no object in contact with you, hence there is no normal reaction force that give you the feel of having weight.
I hope you understood. If you still have issues, let me know.