Author Topic: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?  (Read 2423 times)

Silver Bullet

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Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
« Reply #25 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.

zxcvbob

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Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
« Reply #26 on: May 27, 2020, 02:31:42 PM »
^ You can dense it out.



Also, water has a *lot* of different solid phases.  (about 20 that we know of)  Which one are we talking about?
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Silver Bullet

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Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
« Reply #27 on: May 27, 2020, 02:51:05 PM »
Quote
Also, water has a *lot* of different solid phases.

Are you talking about ice? 

zxcvbob

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Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
« Reply #28 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.
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Jim147

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Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
« Reply #29 on: May 27, 2020, 03:43:27 PM »
What if it's Ice T drinking iced tea?
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And sometimes goes on and on and on.

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230RN

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Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
« Reply #30 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.)
« Last Edit: May 27, 2020, 05:54:45 PM by 230RN »

Brad Johnson

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Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
« Reply #31 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.

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WLJ

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Re: Which weighs more, cotton or gold?
« Reply #32 on: May 27, 2020, 06:03:28 PM »
The answer, my good fellow, is 42. Everyone knows that.

Brad

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