which is heavier, a pound of gold or a pound of feathers?

Answer 1

Trick question? Not really. Gold and silver are measured in troy ounces. This system of measurement originated during the Middle Ages in the trading city of Troyes, France. The ancient system survives today as a measure of gold and other precious metals.

A troy pound consists of 12 troy ounces, each weighing 31.4 grams. The more familiar ounce (28.3 grams) is part of the avoirdupois system in which each pound consists of 16 ounces. Weighing each item according to its system, a pound of feathers is 21 percent heavier than a pound of gold.

Answer 2

I bet most people would answer without thinking and say feathers weigh less than gold but a pound is a pound is a pound. The only difference is what you describe is that a "pound" of gold is actually considered 12 troy ounces so a pound of feathers just may be a tad bit heavier.

Answer 3

Their weight is exactly the same. A pound is a pound. Assuming both are weighed using the same scale, troy or avoirpudus.

For further commentary along these lines I'll go on a bit about weight and mass. When we casually, (in everyday use), talk about weight on Earth we actually mean the mass of an object. Mass being a measure of the absolute quantity of matter in an object.

On Earth one pound mass equals one pound weight. This is only so because the standard unit of weight, a pound, was defined and calibrated on Earth. Weight is actually a measure of the amount of force a body exerts on an object. That force is dependent on the amount of gravity the object has, hence it is dependent on the size and mass of the body creating the gravity. (Gravity being defined as the curvature of space around an object. The whole topic of gravity however can be expanded on to death)

On other planets, celstial bodies, spaceships, etc. one pound mass does not weigh one pound. The moon is a common and great example of this. Having 1/6 the gravity of the Earth, it would require 6 pounds mass to measure a weight of one pound.

Answer 4

A pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold ! The reason is because gold is measured in troy weight, which contains only 12 ounces per pound.

Answer 5

Gold is measured using Troy pounds, which divide into 12 Troy ounces that are a big larger that avoirdupois ounces, 16 of which make one avoirdupois pound. Avoirdupois is used for everything else except precious metals.

So, casting aside the possibility that the feathers are weigheted in Troy pounds, or the gold be weighted in avaoirdupois (which is of course allowed...) this being a trick question we can thus stae that:

1 (avoirdupois) pound of feather is heavier than 1 pound (Troy) of gold while 1 (avoirdupois) ounce of feather is lighter than 1 (Troy) ounce of gold.

Answer 6

'heavy' refers to weight. A pound of gold has a weight of 1 pound. A pound of feathers has a weight of 1 pound. Hence both have the same weight.

On the other hand, the volume [amount of space taken up] differs.

Answer 7

Trick question? Not really. Gold and silver are measured in troy ounces. This system of measurement originated during the Middle Ages in the trading city of Troyes, France. The ancient system survives today as a measure of gold and other precious metals.

A troy pound consists of 12 troy ounces, each weighing 31.4 grams. The more familiar ounce (28.3 grams) is part of the avoirdupois system in which each pound consists of 16 ounces. Weighing each item according to its system, a pound of feathers is 21 percent heavier than a pound of gold.

Answer 8

They both weigh the same. It just takes alot more feathers to weigh a pound than gold does.

Answer 9

a pound of feathers is technically heavier than a pound of gold because they are measured using different types of pound and if you converted them into say grammes then the feathers would weigh more

Answer 10

a pound of feathers weighs 453.59 grams(avoirdupois wt.) and a pound of gold weighs 373.4 grams (troy wt. ) therefore a pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold.