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Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Silver Bullet on May 26, 2020, 10:12:09 PM

Title: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Silver Bullet on May 26, 2020, 10:12:09 PM
1) Which weighs more, an ounce of gold or an ounce of cotton?


2) Which weighs more, a pound of gold or a pound of cotton?


3) Which weighs more, an ounce of cotton or an ounce (fluid) of water?
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: charby on May 26, 2020, 10:33:25 PM
Troy?
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: HeroHog on May 26, 2020, 10:50:40 PM
1 =
2 =
3 cotton oz < H20 Liquid oz
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: zxcvbob on May 26, 2020, 10:59:40 PM
1) A troy ounce is about 10% heavier than an av. (I can't spell it) ounce, so the ounce of gold is heavier.
2) A troy pound is only 12 troy ounces and a av. pound is 16 ounces, so even tho' the troy ounce is heavier it's not that much heavier.  So the pound of cotton is heavier
3) Water is slightly denser than one ounce per fluid ounce, so the water weighs more.
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: WLJ on May 26, 2020, 11:00:22 PM

3) Which weighs more, an ounce of cotton or an ounce (fluid) of water?

US fluid ounce or Imperial ?
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: zxcvbob on May 26, 2020, 11:01:10 PM
US fluid ounce or Imperial ?

You get the same answer either way ;)
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: WLJ on May 26, 2020, 11:04:46 PM
You get the same answer either way ;)

By my math
US fluid oz = 1.0430511 oz
Imperial fluid oz = 1.0000168 oz Pretty darn close to 1
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: zxcvbob on May 26, 2020, 11:15:20 PM
Really?  I thought an Imperial fl ounce had more volume than a US ounce, so I didn't look it up  :facepalm:
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: TommyGunn on May 26, 2020, 11:18:02 PM
A pound is a pound is a pound.   I can't believe this thread has gone on this long.   :old:    ???     [popcorn]
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: HeroHog on May 26, 2020, 11:39:57 PM
Me either, I "won" it right out the gate!
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: 230RN on May 27, 2020, 12:46:31 AM
 Ounce upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary...a

... that's all I got this late...
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Silver Bullet on May 27, 2020, 01:03:30 AM
1) A troy ounce is about 10% heavier than an av. (I can't spell it) ounce, so the ounce of gold is heavier.
2) A troy pound is only 12 troy ounces and a av. pound is 16 ounces, so even tho' the troy ounce is heavier it's not that much heavier.  So the pound of cotton is heavier
3) Water is slightly denser than one ounce per fluid ounce, so the water weighs more.

This is correct.   :cool:

Ounce (avoirdupois) of cotton = 28.35 grams.
Ounce (troy) of gold = 31.10 grams.
Ounce (liquid) of water = 29.57 grams.
Pound (avoirdupois) of cotton = 453.6 grams.
Pound (troy) of gold = 373.3 grams.

The two "tricks" are that gold is measured in troy ounces, which is heavier than an ounce of cotton (measured in avoirdupois); and that a troy pound only has 12 troy ounces, compared to an avoirdupois pound which has 16 avoirdupois ounces.

The ounce of water is just thrown in for added confusion.   :lol:
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: 230RN on May 27, 2020, 01:06:17 AM
Are those American or English grams?
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Silver Bullet on May 27, 2020, 01:08:47 AM
Another reference:

https://www.free-bullion-investment-guide.com/troy.html (https://www.free-bullion-investment-guide.com/troy.html)
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Silver Bullet on May 27, 2020, 01:09:22 AM
Are those American or English grams?

Metric
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Silver Bullet on May 27, 2020, 01:17:51 AM
A pound is a pound is a pound.   I can't believe this thread has gone on this long.   :old:    ???     [popcorn]

Not true.  A dog pound weighs way more than an avoirdupois pound.   :P
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Hawkmoon on May 27, 2020, 01:50:19 AM
Not true.  A dog pound weighs way more than an avoirdupois pound.   :P

That's because there are so few avoirdupois rescue agencies.
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: 230RN on May 27, 2020, 06:18:50 AM
Metric

I really don't carat all.  I take it all with 64.799 milligrams of salt anyway.  I'm going to take a 324mg aspirin pill now.

Terry, 230RN
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Brad Johnson on May 27, 2020, 09:47:24 AM
African or European swallow?

Brad
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: TommyGunn on May 27, 2020, 10:08:22 AM
Not true.  A dog pound weighs way more than an avoirdupois pound.   :P
:facepalm:

If you say so .....  ;/
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Ben on May 27, 2020, 10:18:43 AM
African or European swallow?

Brad

That's what she said.
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: MechAg94 on May 27, 2020, 10:52:57 AM
Technically, a "fluid" can be liquid or gas.  How do you weigh water vapor?
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: 230RN on May 27, 2020, 11:52:28 AM
^ You can dense it out.
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Silver Bullet on May 27, 2020, 11:56:05 AM
Quote
Technically, a "fluid" can be liquid or gas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_ounce (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_ounce)

“A fluid ounce (abbreviated fl oz, fl. oz. or oz. fl. … is a unit of volume (also called capacity) typically used for measuring liquids.”   :old:
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Nick1911 on May 27, 2020, 12:06:38 PM
Technically, a "fluid" can be liquid or gas.  How do you weigh water vapor?

I have an old book with steam tables that have that sort of information.

However at standard temperature and pressure, water vapor is more commonly encountered as a mixture with air.  For that, psychometric charts list the specific volume of air/water vapor mixtures.

Fun side note, as more water vapor is added to air at a constant temperature, the specific volume increases - or in other words, the density decreases.
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Silver Bullet on May 27, 2020, 12:30:28 PM
When I was an active coin collector many years ago, I occasionally bought gold coins for their bullion value, so I had to know what I was getting.  More recently, my wife sold some of her gold jewelry and I had to calculate the gold value based on the weight (in troy ounces) and the gold fineness (karat value, as in 14K gold = 14/24 pure).

But this is fun.  :laugh:  When I was a kid the question was, "which weighs more, an ounce of cotton or an ounce of lead?"  And the answer was they both weigh the same.  The rules change when you substitute gold for the lead because gold (or silver or platinum) is measured in troy ounces.
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: zxcvbob on May 27, 2020, 02:31:42 PM
^ You can dense it out.

(https://media.giphy.com/media/qIXVd1RoKGqlO/giphy.gif)

Also, water has a *lot* of different solid phases.  (about 20 that we know of)  Which one are we talking about?
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Silver Bullet on May 27, 2020, 02:51:05 PM
Quote
Also, water has a *lot* of different solid phases.

Are you talking about ice? 
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: zxcvbob on May 27, 2020, 03:05:22 PM
Are you talking about ice? 

Yes.  Different crystalline structures with different densities.  Kurt Vonnegut used one of them as a plot device in "Cat's Cradle", but real Ice IX doesn't have the same properties as in the book.
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Jim147 on May 27, 2020, 03:43:27 PM
What if it's Ice T drinking iced tea?
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: 230RN on May 27, 2020, 05:14:14 PM
"Fun side note, as more water vapor is added to air at a constant temperature, the specific volume increases - or in other words, the density decreases."

Oh, that's just psychro talk.  Of course if you add a liter of water vapor to a gallon of air, you get more volumes, maybe even 4785 of them.  (In Canada, 5546 of them, probably because of the higher-numbered latitudes.)
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: Brad Johnson on May 27, 2020, 06:00:51 PM

Oh, that's just psychro talk.  Of course if you add a liter of water vapor to a gallon of air, you get more volumes, maybe even 4785 of them.  (In Canada, 5546 of them, probably because of the higher-numbered latitudes.)


The answer, my good fellow, is 42. Everyone knows that.

Brad
Title: Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
Post by: WLJ on May 27, 2020, 06:03:28 PM
The answer, my good fellow, is 42. Everyone knows that.

Brad

Which is what you get when you multiply six by nine   :P