Is a pound of feathers heavier than a pound of lead?

Weights more in an identical gravitational field! Creates a larger force vector in the identical direction due to greater gravitational attraction.


Guys I just know now you are going to hate the answer to this...

The weight of my head the morning after seven pints of Theakston's Old Peculiar.

Surely it would depend on whether you were walking uphill on the way home from work after a gruelling shift at the coalface to a cold empty house with only some bacon rind for supper or galloping downhill after a hot bath and some slick dressing to a meet with the bubbly,dimpled tart with big tits you arranged to meet last night when her husband went for a piss.

If I am using a scale then I need to know if either the feathers or the lead is on a diet because if they are then we know the scale won't be accurate.

Just to help you guys along some more I'll define a few more terms

Feathers - the things that cover most birds from their arse to their head

Gold - this shiny yellow metal folk wear in jewelry

If your worried about air density again (sigh) do the experiement on the moon with a set of scales and standard weights - you'll still get the right answer.

I think I need a beer now...

Is that a pound of beer?

Methinks G_day has found the answer to the question asked by every alchemist. His lead has turned to gold.

If anyone now turns a pound into a unit of currency to further screw up the works I'll just scream...

Sooner or later some brave soul will come answer it, everyone else will say of course and you'll all be right or wrong or whatever and the Earth is still likely go orbit the Sun and it won't dramatically effect the course of world peace...

The weight of any object is directly proportional to how much it would hurt to get hit in the head by a pound of it.

And that is why a pound of lead is much heavier than a pound of feathers.

If a dummy or a child asked this question - they'd be answered - rightly or wrongly by now. Someone a bit smarter than that asks and everyone is "deafeningly silent" aware how they'll look if they get it wrong. Is there a term for that?

g_day
You should have just done a poll.

Which is heavier? A pound of feathers or a pound of lead?

A. a pound of feathers
B. a pound of lead
C. a pound of Gold made from lead.
D. a pound of beer
E. None of the above.

Setanta set the tone by pointing out a lot of people don't know who is buried in Grant's tomb. I don't think there is a citizen alive in the US that wasn't asked your question as a youngster. If they got it wrong then they won't get it wrong now hence our merry making.

I bet they got it wrong, most don't learn ancient history - even the battles that might give the answer to you.

Also just were did lead enter the equation? Asking about lead changes the answer of course, but I presume clever folk like you knew that already.

I didn't know this was taught in the USA, although I am aware you do still use some of the Imperial system.

Tell me what do most children answer?

PS

My 11 year old son got this right.
My 78 year old dad got this right.
My university educated friends mainly get this wrong.

How did you fair honestly when you were asked - did you know the right answer or did you have to guess. Even my best mate who did years of metalurgy and studied material sciences with me got this wrong and I'd have thought he'd have got the right answer.

And all thought about it for some time.

PPS

Did feathers confuse it? I did specify later I meant bird feathers so someone wouldn't say you're being tricky using an old English term for weight like 'slugs' or 'feathers' - I just presumed most folk wouldn't have heard the term feather used for weight and so wouldn't have been confused there. I should have used sand rather than feathers strickly speaking to add clarity.

Lead entered the equation when you mentioned it in the thread's title.

The answer, obvious from the beginning, is that neither is heavier than the other--that's why i made the sardonic remark about Grant's tomb.

What is your major malfunction?

That I f*cked up big time and didn't realise it with the mistake in the title to this thread!

I obviously meant to ask which is heavier a pound of feathers or a pound of gold?

Pardon this major whoopsie on my part - no wonder this screwed an otherwise great question! Apologies all - you must have wondered what was going wrong

not a great question, carry on like it was though.

I am so delighted that you deign to be snide with me . . . my point is that the question is so obvious that i, for one, did not take you seriously. Since then, however, your comments suggest that you despair of the intellect of your interlocutors for not taking this goofy question seriously simply because you posted it in Science and Mathematics.

I promise never to darken another thread of yours.

It is not the weight that metters, but which can fight better.

I say feathers cover lead...or gold.

The suspence is killing me.

Well obiviously changing the question changes the result, something you all realised.

Setanta I'm crushed as you obivously knew so much, shame you didn't say are you sure you meant lead - its common nowadays and I didn't meant to ask a question whose answer might change over time.

dlowan of course feather and lead over gold is the correct answer - few realise that is all!