i will ask again! how much money is 5gallons of quarters? 5gallons of dimes?5gallons of nickels? an pennies ?

Question

i dont want to no HOW to figure it out by weight. i already thought of that ! ! ! ! ! want to no if someone knows an approx. amount of $ this is

Answer 1

To answer this question you need to know:

1. Diameter (or radius) of each coin
2. Height of each coin
3. Approximate air content trapped within a jar of specific coins.


The first two are easy. Just get an accurate ruler and measure. Square the radius, multiply it by Pi and you have the volume of one coin.

Take the volume of a gallon (231 cubic inches).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallon

Multiply the volume of a gallon by 5 to get the volume of a five gallon jar. (1155 square inches).

Divide the volume of the five gallon jar by the volume of the single coin. This is the maximum amount of coins you'll have in the jar if there was absolutely no air in the jar (i.e. assumes a 5-gallon jar that is perfectly shaped like a stack of coins).

The jar is almost certainly not going to be shaped like a tower of coins, so you have to calculate the airspace. This is much harder.

There are several ways that I can think of to do this:

Method A) You can actually fill up a jar with coins. If you had the coins, you probably would have already done this and not be here asking the question.

Method B) Calculate the space between the coins in a jar of a known diameter. This assumes that all the coins are lying flat in stacks. This will give you the maximum number of coins in a standard jar size, but with no sideways coins. But wait... you can squeeze sideways coins into the space between flat layed coins to come up with a more efficient maximum volume.

Method C) Estimate the volume using a scale model. Coins will fall in a random way, some flat, some on their side and some propped up against another coin. How they fall will depend upon how they are dropped (e.g. one at a time or at at once), the shape of the container (i.e. a taller container will have more surface area for the coins to prop themselves up on) and some other minor factors. When you have a five gallon jar (i.e. lots and lots of coins), the law of long-run averages means that 100 five gallon jars filled with coins will weigh about the same because coins will average out to be the same volume given enough "drops". The best way is to mark a five gallon drum (or make a circle using paper equal to the diameter of the drum). You know the height of the mark (e.g. 1 inch). Fill up the test area with the coin in question and then extrapolate it up to the top of the whole five gallons.

Method D). Quick and Dirty Guess. Come up with an ratio that "seems right". Start with 15% void space (sounds good to me). Take the total maximum number of coins in the five gallon jar and multiply it by the compliment (100% - 15% = 85%). This is quick, dirty and will probably get you somewhere near the real answer.