Er...now I haven't followed this question, to be sure...but how would the answer change whether it be gold or lead of which we have a pound, or which type of feather?
Please tell me you are all funning!
No,
Q. What is heavier a pound of gold or a pound of feathers?
A. Feathers of course.
Q. What is heavier a pound of gold or a pound of lead?
A. Lead but not sure if this has always been so - I'd guess it was true.
I'd have to reach for my history book to check on the availability of lead to answer does the question I wrote change over time rather than measure gold vs feathers which has a consistent answer over time.
I suspect the answer may not change over time but in the past it might have not been the case. I think lead was always fairly common so I suspect their weights have always been equal.
* * *
Hate killing a good question.
Only the good die young....
Only now I probably have people searching asking why is a pound of gold lighter than a pound of feathers - still the search for knowledge is often beneficial.
Still try it on your friends and see how many say gold or they're both the same rather than know it's feathers.
A pound of pot is way heavier than either feathers or lead..... uh...what was the question again?
g_day,
I can only assume you are now funning with us.
A pound of feathers weighs one pound.
A pound of gold weighs one pound
A pound of lead weighs one pound.
If a something weighs more or less than a pound of feathers than it isn't a pound.
A pound of pot is worth its weight in gold. Maybe I should check gold futures before I say that though. (Pot doesn't stick around long enough to have a future.)
No, deadly serious.
Gold is a precious metal - lead no longer is (if ever) so gold is lighter.
Pounds is a complex system, if you are weighing a precious metal in pounds you of course use Troy pounds and ounces. If you are weighing a common substance you use Anduvian pounds annd ounces. Anduvian pounds and ounces weigh more than Troy pounds and ounces. So a pound of gold weights significantly less than a pound of sand, water or feathers!
So if they taught you different in school well they're wrong!
Learn something every day huh?
Methinks someone already knows what a pound of pot is worth.
Fancy a cookie, old boy?
POT as in Prefered Oriental Tea huh?
parados wrote:A pound of pot is worth its weight in gold. Maybe I should check gold futures before I say that though. (Pot doesn't stick around long enough to have a future.)
High quality reefer, purchased by the quarter ounce, runs at least the price of gold--if not more.
Google doesn't like "Anduvian".
1 troy oz = 480 grains
1 troy lb = 5760 grains
1 oz avoirdupois = 437.5 grains
1 lb avoirdupois = 7000 grains
There is an old joke "Which is heavier, a pound of lead or a pound of feathers?" Of course, they weigh the same. But if you said "Which is heavier, a ounce of gold or a ounce of feathers?", then you could claim that the gold is measured in troy and the feathers in avoirdupois, and so the gold is indeed heavier. But a troy pound of gold is lighter than a pound (avoirdupois) of feathers!
I was always amused by "avoirdupois," which, in French, means "to have weight." Not a very specific concept.
Since 1875 a 'pound' is a 'pound' all over here, for everything.
It is hilarious that many Canadians tout the metric system and their dedicated converstion thereto--yet butter is still sold by the pound, if you go to the deli counter and ask for a pound of ham they will weigh out 455 grams for you in the twinkling of an eye, and liquids are sold in four liter jugs--mirroring the use of the gallon.
Why the metric system didn't use base 12 is a mystery to me.
DrewDad wrote:Why the metric system didn't use base 12 is a mystery to me.
Because it's a
decimal system and
not duodecimal :wink:
A chronology of the metric system
-----------
A pound of ham is between 480 and 499 grams here, depends, where you buy it
Actually Walter the Troy system is still used for precious metals, gold, silver, platinium, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium etc... Mention any of these metals (and in the past Aluminium too - at one stage it was more expensive than gold until folk worked out how to extract it - it was exhibited in large museums!) and you automatically default to Troy pounds and Troy ounces. Anything else and its the other system that took over from Tower weights around the time frame you mentioned.
The trouble with the Imperial system - especially for weights is it is so archaic. Example - how many cloves, feathers, tolas or slugs do you weight?
Here are some other unusual weights and measures
London pound of 7200 grains = 15 troy ounces.
Merchants pound of 6750 grains, in use from about 1270 to 1330.
Another merchants pound of 7200 grains, used fo a brief period.
Wool pound of 6992 grains.
Clove which was 7 avoirdupois pounds
Stone which was 14 avoirdupois pounds.
Quarter which was 28 pounds, or a quarter of a hundredweight.
A tod which was equivalent to a quarter,
A hundredweight (abbreviated to cwt) which was 112 pounds.
Butcher's stone of 8 pounds.
Sack which was 364 pounds.
Apothecaries weights in which an ounce was 480 grains as for troy measure, but with 8 drams or drachms per ounce, therefore a drachm was 60 grains. There were 3 scruples per drachm
