I’ve got a crappy sprung loaded postage meter that I’d like to check for accuracy. I know a nickel weighs exactly 5g or 0.1615 troy ounce, which is apparently not a real ounce. I believe there are 12 troy ounces to the pound, and WTF is that all about? So, what is the closest I can come to an ounce (the real ounce, with 16 to the pound) with brand new U.S. coins?
5 quarters are an ounce (avoirdupois). That’s close enough for most postal accuracy–and any other commodities you might be wanting to weight.
A troy ounce is 480 grains, vs. 437.5 grains av.
A troy pound is 5760 grains (12 troy ounces) vs 7000 grains av. (16, duh, ounces)
I think the closest you’ll get is using 5 quarters. According to google,
Using the figures from US Mint website, a quarter is 5.67g.
5 * 5.67g = 28.35
This ought to be close enough to test your postage meter.
Wouldnt an extra stamp be cheaper then all the change you have to use?
Only if you were only going to go over by one ounce twice, or two ounces once. Any more than that, and testing your accuracy would be worth the five quarters. (5 * $.25 = 1.25, 3 * .42 = $1.26)
Only if your postal scale uses up the coins and you can’t get them back. You take some coins out of your pocket, use them to test the scale, and then put them back in your pocket. Net cost: zero.
Thanks, I seemed to recall that there was some combination of coins that worked out to be an ounce, and 5 quarters is damned close. I knew ever since I was in college that there were about 7 grams in a quarter ounce.