which is heavier?

[isam]

a pound of feathers or a pound of gold?

before you answer with neither, a pound is a pound, consider the following:

since a pound of feathers consist of 16 oz to a pound, arent they in fact heavier than a pound of gold which consists of only 12 oz (troy)?

[Mangetout]

(sigh)yes

[isam]

therefore the trick question isnt really a trick question afterall

yay!

[Keko]

Sounds like some kinda joke my Dad would tell me. And that’s not saying much :P~

[curwin]

From: http://members.theglobe.com/wronghero/lemonbasket43.htm

From Stimpson, George, A Book About a Thousand Things (New York: Harper & Bros., 1946, pp. 356-7):

“Technically speaking, a pound of feathers is heavier than a pound of gold. Feathers are weighed by avoirdupois weight in which there are 7,000 grains in a pound, while gold and other precious metals are weighed in Troy weight in which there ase 5,760 grains in a pound. Of course, by the same system of weights a pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of gold…”

But wait! There’s more!

“In a vacuum a pound of feathers weighs exactly the same as a pound of [gold]. But because of the bouyancy of air there is an apparent difference. If a pound of feathers and a pound of [gold] are weighed in a vacuum and then weighed in air, the feathers appear lighter because they are less dense than the metal and weight for weight [displace] more air. But if a pound of [gold] and a pound of feathers are first weighed in air and then weighed in a vacuum the feathers appear to be heavier. Often bodies that appear to have the same masses in air are found to have different masses in a vacuum.”

[Schnitte]

It’s an old puzzle by Sam Loyd, I believe. He did several things concerning differnent measure systems; he asks, e.g., about the difference between a dozen dozen pounds of feathers and half a dozen dozen pounds of gold. It is added in the original text that the first appearance of that puzzle had been in 1914.

[Opengrave]

Anything heavier than a duck must be a witch!

(I did the nose)

[stolichnaya]

The logical progression:

IF witches Burn
AND wood also burns
THEN witches are made of wood

IF wood floats in water
AND ducks also float in water
AND witches are made of wood
THEN a witch weighs the same as a duck

IF weight(woman) = weight(duck)
THEN woman = witch

IF weight(woman) > weight(duck)
THEN she will not float in water and therefore is NOT a witch.

(It’s a fair cop.)

[Schnitte]

*Originally posted by curwin *
“In a vacuum a pound of feathers weighs exactly the same as a pound of [gold]. But because of the bouyancy of air there is an apparent difference. If a pound of feathers and a pound of [gold] are weighed in a vacuum and then weighed in air, the feathers appear lighter because they are less dense than the metal and weight for weight [displace] more air. But if a pound of [gold] and a pound of feathers are first weighed in air and then weighed in a vacuum the feathers appear to be heavier. Often bodies that appear to have the same masses in air are found to have different masses in a vacuum.”

Another thought about it (nitpicking, of course): This might be the case if you just consider the gravitational force that pulls your samples downwards; but if we consider the pound (or, for Europeans, the kilogram) a unit of mass, not force, the buoyancy stuff doesn’t work because mass is fixed. A kilogram on the moon has only 1/6 of the force it would have on Earth, but the mass is still one kilogram.
While kilogram is without any doubt a mass, not force, unit, the thing is more complicated for the pound; I think many technicians use it for expression of engine thrust in aircraft, etc.

[Achernar]

In my experience, a large majority of the time, “pound” refers to a unit of weight or force, and usually when it’s meant as a unit of mass, it will be called “pound-mass” or something like that.

One thing I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned: In their respective standard systems, a pound of feathers is indeed heavier than a pound of gold, but an ounce of feathers is lighter than an ounce of gold.

[MrDeath]

*Originally posted by Achernar *
**One thing I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned: In their respective standard systems, a pound of feathers is indeed heavier than a pound of gold, but an ounce of feathers is lighter than an ounce of gold. **

Not to mention, worth a lot less. (Yes, even eiderdown :))

[Darwin_s_Finch]

*Originally posted by Achernar *
In my experience, a large majority of the time, “pound” refers to a unit of weight or force, and usually when it’s meant as a unit of mass, it will be called “pound-mass” or something like that.

The unit of mass in the “English” system is called a “slug”. A pound (which is a unit of force) is 1 slug*ft/s[sup]2[/sup].

[Achernar]

I don’t disagree with you, Darwin’s Finch. But, from Pound-Mass:

“In industrial and commercial usage, the unqualified term ‘pound’ may be used to mean pound-mass (instead of pound-force), but this usage is to be discouraged.”