# What size sphere of copper, silver, gold or platinum could you have for one million dollars?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 21, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752 "2016-02-21T23:43:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2016, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/41 "2016-02-23T03:38:14Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> A semi can carry about 22 tons. That copper ball is about 239 tons. What kind of heavy lifting equipment can move that?
Also, Would the ball deform under it’s own weight?
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/42 "2016-02-23T03:57:39Z")
> [@AndrewL](#):
>
> Using your cost per troy oz, 1 million dollars will get you:
>
> 810.7 Troy oz, or 25.215kg of Gold
> 64892.9 Troy oz, or 2018.4Kg of Silver
> 1053.74 Troy oz, or 32.775Kg of Platinum
> 6974959.89 Troy oz, or 216945.665Kg of Copper
>
> Gold has a density of 19.32 grams per cubic centimeter, so you have 1305.155 cubic centimeters of gold. This makes a sphere 13.559 centimeters across.
>
> Silver has a density of 10.49 grams per cubic centimeter, so you have 2018397.144 cubic centimeters of gold, which makes a sphere 156.796 centimeters across
>
> Platinum has a density of 21.45 grams per cubic centimeter, so you have 1527.973 cubic centimeters of platinum, which makes a sphere 14.29 centimeters across
>
> Copper has a density of 8.96 grams per cubic centimeter, so you have 24212685.83 cubic centimeters of copper, which makes a sphere 358.934 centimeters across.
I feel it’s worth noting that these calculations ignore the cost of machining the material into a sphere, and paying the salary of your army of henchmen to guard it.
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### Author:  [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2016, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/43 "2016-02-23T04:03:18Z")
I was curious as to whether a million-dollar sphere made out of any other element would be substantially smaller than the gold or platinum spheres, but honestly, those seem to be the best you can do. Both metals are really dense and really expensive. The closest I could find would be a iridium sphere, which at today’s spot price of $520/troy oz would yield a sphere about 17 centimeters across (6 3/4".) Osmium was pretty close to this as well.
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### Author:  [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2016, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/44 "2016-02-23T05:36:46Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> A semi can carry about 22 tons. That copper ball is about 239 tons. What kind of heavy lifting equipment can move that?
[Lots of wheels.](http://www.capx2020.com/Gallery/north-rochester-transformer-move.html) [Here’s a video as well.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0N_bdgTij8)
Admittedly, a transformer is a little less likely to roll away on an incline.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/45 "2016-02-23T14:48:19Z")
> [@Silophant](#):
>
> [Lots of wheels.](http://www.capx2020.com/Gallery/north-rochester-transformer-move.html) [Here’s a video as well.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0N_bdgTij8)
>
> Admittedly, a transformer is a little less likely to roll away on an incline.
What’s the coefficient of friction for the spheres and the minimum chocking resistance to restrain from a five mph–representative speed of transport–sudden stop?
\*\*Coefficient of friction for a sphere
Authors:
Chaplin, R. L.; Miller, M. G.
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Physics & Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631), AB(Department of Physics & Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631)
Publication:
American Journal of Physics, Volume 52, Issue 12, pp. 1108-1111 (1984).
A ball that rolls on parallel tracks, whose width is less than the diameter of the ball, experiences both translational and rotational motions. The linear accelerations of the ball for cases of rolling and slipping are derived theoretically, and these accelerations have also been determined by performing experiments when the width and the angular elevation of the tracks are controlled. Data show when slipping occurs for the rolling motion, and the onset of slipping is used to compute the coefficient of kinetic friction for a sphere. A second method of determining the coefficient of friction, for the sphere slipping without rolling, provides confirmation for this analysis.
> **[Coefficient of friction for a sphere](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1984AmJPh..52.1108C/abstract)**
>
> A ball that rolls on parallel tracks, whose width is less than the diameter of the ball, experiences both translational and rotational motions. The linear accelerations of the ball for cases of rolling and slipping are derived theoretically, and...
If this is any help.
Actually how to chock or lash down the sphere is a challenge in itself.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/46 "2016-02-23T15:27:24Z")
> [@MikeS](#):
>
> I was curious as to whether a million-dollar sphere made out of any other element would be substantially smaller than the gold or platinum spheres, but honestly, those seem to be the best you can do. Both metals are really dense and really expensive. The closest I could find would be a iridium sphere, which at today’s spot price of $520/troy oz would yield a sphere about 17 centimeters across (6 3/4".) Osmium was pretty close to this as well.
There are, of course a lot of obscure rare earth and transition metals that you are going to have a hard time finding a published price for.
If we admit artificial elements I can give you an absurd example. A few artificial elements have limited commercial use, such as Americium (sold as the dioxide, $1500/gram, makes a lot of smoke detectors). Try Californium, which has some very limited commercial uses (such as moisture gauges used in petroleum drilling). The price is given as $60/microgram, independent of the cost of encapsulation and transport. Ignoring several issues such as how dangerous the million dollar sphere is, the million dollars would buy about 17 milligrams. The density is 15.1 g/cm^3, so that’s a bit less than 0.0009 cubic centimeters, or a sphere about 1.2 mm in diameter - around 0.05 inch.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/47 "2016-02-23T15:37:45Z")
Cf is a strong neutron emitter, and hazardous in microgram quantities, so I leave it as an exercise for others as to how exactly you are going to DISPLAY this wonderful sphere.
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### Author:  [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/48 "2016-02-23T16:12:12Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> How big will my balls be?
A million will buy you a couple of nice brass balls weighing about 190 tons each = 223500 liters = 3.5 meters across.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/49 "2016-02-23T16:51:27Z")
Damn, I did the Cf volume backwards - a bit OVER a thousandth of a cc, not under. Size estimate is still about right.
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### Author:  [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/50 "2016-02-24T00:56:20Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#):
>
> Also, Would the ball deform under it’s own weight?
I second this question. It seems likely that it would slump and/or smoosh its contact point with the ground.
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### Author:  [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/51 "2016-02-24T02:10:47Z")
Less so, though, than a 10 tonne ball of mercury, 1.13 m across…
It would be nice to see it floating around in 0 gee, though.
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2016, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/52 "2016-02-24T03:44:49Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> I made a real nice post with cites & showing my work and everything. Then I closed the window while trying to preview. :smack:
>
> Anyhow, a 25mpg car gets between 57 and 145 rods per hogshead. There are different sized hogsheads for different purposes; hence the range. The hogshead most applicable to gasoline would probably be more towards 57 end of the range.
>
> For that sized hogshead, 13 rods per hogshead is roughly 1/2mile per gallon. Which is about the fuel mileage of a railroad locomotive.
>
> You’re welcome. 😃
I was quickly paraphrasing Grampa Simpson (though now that I look it up he said ‘_forty_ rods’…)
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2016, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/53 "2016-02-24T12:27:25Z")
As I said a couple of posts later I totally tubed those calcs; 1/1/X means multiply by X, not divide :smack:
Anyhow, 25mpg is between very roughly 400,000 rods/hogshead & 1,200,000 rods/hogshead depending on the size of hogshead.
13 rods/hogshead is between 1 and 4 \*feet \*per gallon. Some Googling says a typical large cruise ship gets abut 10-15 feet per gallon at a fast but typical cruising speed, so we’re half to a third as efficient as that.
I’d bet a non-nuclear aircraft carrier at absolute max speed would be about that (in)efficient.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/54 "2016-02-24T16:33:03Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> I’d bet a non-nuclear aircraft carrier at absolute max speed would be about that (in)efficient.
It takes a LOT of oars.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/55 "2016-02-24T17:25:18Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#):
>
> At these weights you should be able to carry about the gold and platinum for a short while. The silver will probably roll with great effort but stopping it from going through the wall could be your undoing. You ain’t moving the copper without heavy equipment.
Converted to troy or avoirdupois, the platinum and gold spheres will weigh between 50 and 60 pounds. How would you like to carry that around?
Incidentally, the old cliché about the gold brick is irresistible to adduce here: a real clay building brick, measuring 2x4x8 inches, or 64 cubic inches, would weigh maybe six pounds. But at 11 ounces to the cubic inch, a real gold brick of those dimensions would weigh 44 pounds!
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/56 "2016-02-24T17:51:33Z")
**dougie** ’s irresistibility of adduction. Nice.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/57 "2016-02-24T18:17:58Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> **dougie** ’s irresistibility of adduction. Nice.
You have a hang-up about big words, Leo?.😛
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### Author:  [@Sasquatch\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasquatch_1)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/58 "2016-02-26T18:06:15Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#):
>
> Converted to troy or avoirdupois, the platinum and gold spheres will weigh between 50 and 60 pounds. How would you like to carry that around?
> Incidentally, the old cliché about the gold brick is irresistible to adduce here: a real clay building brick, measuring 2x4x8 inches, or 64 cubic inches, would weigh maybe six pounds. But at 11 ounces to the cubic inch, a real gold brick of those dimensions would weigh 44 pounds!
The density of gold is one of those things that Hollywood gets wrong more often than not. A bar of gold is way heavier than lead even. Big bars of gold are not something a person easily picks up, or sticks a dozen of in a backpack and walks away.
I remember a movie once where the maguffin was a literal pallet load of rectangular prism shaped gold blocks, packed essentially without significant airspace, and in the general dimension of 4’ x 4’ x 4’
60+ cubic feet of gold would squash an oak pallet, and it was being transported in a normal UPS style cargo aircraft. To make it worse, it had crash-landed on a mountain, and the characters ended up sledding the pallet load of gold down a snowy slope to get away.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/59 "2016-02-26T18:16:40Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#):
>
> You have a hang-up about big words, Leo?.😛
😕 I wasn’t being sarcastic.
ETA: Indeed, I turned it into a noun and credited it to you, henceforth and forever.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-size-sphere-of-copper-silver-gold-or-platinum-could-you-have-for-one-million-dollars/746752/60 "2016-02-26T18:24:38Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> I feel it’s worth noting that these calculations ignore the cost of machining the material into a sphere, and paying the salary of your army of henchmen to guard it.
I am pretty sure the copper ball is\* pretty damn safe.\* Even Superman would get a hernia.
Ok, dudes- how about a **lead** ball, then? .80 per pound, so a million+ pounds!
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