Standing on scales - one leg or two?

B

bobjim

Registered User
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Hi,
Silly kind of question but it's been bugging me. I'm currently on crutches because of a broken ankle and decided to weigh myself because I thought I had put on weight due to lack of exercise. So I stood on one leg on the scales but my wife said that because I wasn't standing on both legs, the reading wouldn't be accurate. Now I'm almost sure that it makes no difference (vaguely remembering Leaving Cert Physics, mass, centre of gravity etc) but am not confident enough in this to be able to crush her!

Can anyone give me a definitive answer?

Cheers,
bobjim
 
Well if she stands on the scales on both legs and weighs heavier than standing on the scales with one leg then surely you have your answer? :D
 
I must be having a quiet afternoon, because I just ran upstairs and checked.

I stood on the scales on one leg and on both and the result was identical.
 
Where you stand on the scales and whether they are mechanical or digital scales may make a minor difference. But logically no reason why the number of points of contact should make a difference. Unless you stick your other leg on the side of the bath ;)
 
Sue Ellen has nailed it neatly.

If, however, she refuses because she doesn't want to cause herself anxiety over her weight, you might use one leg and one crutch. Do bear in mind that the plaster cast will weigh a little.
 
The quality of your scales will come into it - if you have a good quality scales, it should make no difference, the cheaper quality ones it seems to (at least on our scales). You may be able to overcome this by standing in the middle on your one leg.

A further question, what if you are Jake the Peg diddle-diddle-um?
 
I gained 7 lbs in one week.......bought a new scale.Depressed me no end.
 
huskerdu said:
I must be having a quiet afternoon, because I just ran upstairs and checked.

I stood on the scales on one leg and on both and the result was identical.
Click to expand...


lol....of course it would be :) all the weight is still on the scales.even if you stood on your hands the weight would be the same. :)
 
I weighed myself with two legs and the scale read 84Kgs. Then I chopped off one leg, and I only weighed 80Kgs!
 
I tried the one leg lark. Couldn't read the LED as it was blurring. Spent ten minutes trying to get back up and extricate my wrist from the WC :D
 
lol the whole thing is to try and stay as steady as possible to get an accurate reading, and of course two legs are better than one to achieve this object.
 
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