A truck driver has a truckload of chickens (in a container made almost entirely of chicken wire) which exceeds the maximum weight allowance. The driver's idea to trick the scale at a weigh station is to scare the chickens to make them fly inside the truck. Will this plan work?

A) Yes, the measured weight will decrease significantly.

B) Yes, the measured weight will decrease slightly.

C) No, there will not be a measurable difference.

Solution: B. Consider the system of the chickens, truck, and inside air as a system. The external forces before the disturbance are the upward force of the scale and the weight force. After the disturbance, there may be some air that is bashed down by the chickens which does not hit the scale or the inside of the truck. This would be a normal force exerted by the ground on the air. The weight force is the same (total mass is the same), and there is no acceleration, so the normal force (scale reading) will decrease slightly. If all of the air could be funneled so as not to hit the scale or the truck, then the measured weight could decrease significantly.