Olin,

On Thu, 1 Sep 2005 07:54:16 -0400, Olin Lathrop wrote:

> Oscar T. wrote:
> > By far the acceleration/deceleration of the car relative to the
> > earth's surface/road is what an accelerometer will measure.
> 
> Totally wrong.  It will also measure 1g up, the apparent accelleration due
> to gravity.  In other words a "stationary" accellerometer sitting on my desk
> will measure about 9.8m/s**2 upwards.

Absolutely right - a G-meter in an aircraft will read +1 when it's parked, which surprises most student pilots 
the first time they see it.  There are telltales that show the max and min achieved since they have been 
reset, and having them both within 0 and +2G indicates it was a smooth flight and a decent landing!  :-)

Cheers,



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