Brain Teasers
Gold and Feathers
Which is heavier, a pound of feathers or a pound of gold?
Answer
A pound of feathers is heavier! Precious metals are weighed in TROY pounds, which are only the equivalent of 0.8228 pounds avoirdupois (lbs).Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
A pound is a pound is a pound. However, not true with ounces. There are 16 ounces in a pound, but only 12 ounces in a pound of gold. Gold is weighed using troy ounces, which by weight are heavier than the weight of a traditional ounce, which is why there are only 12 of them in a pound instead of 16.
Actually, Phyllis is right - one ounce, (oz) is equal to about 28 grams, whereas the Troy ounce is equal to about 31 grams. 12x31 is NOT the same as 16x28. This means that the feathers would weigh more.
shouldn;t this be trick?
One pound (Troy) is about 80% of 1 pound (Avoirdupois). But you can't just call them all pounds in the same breath. It is in the science category and scientists do not use troy weight.
A POUND IS A POUND IS A PUOND
said "they're the same"
thought they'd be the same,but was wrong again
Good teaser but dont be so picky LOL
well, fine then.........be that way!!!
Very tricky teaser. I didn't use my brain on that one.
I thought it was the same old trick, but this one was definitely different.
I thought it was the same old trick, but this one was definitely different.
No...this is incorrect and should be removed or revised. The weight is the same regardless, because in order to make a mathematical comparison you would have to use conversions. They may be measured differently, but they weigh the same.....
besides....you said a pound of and a pound of.....not a troy pound....
no offense...but your grabbing at straws just to get a teaser posted...
besides....you said a pound of and a pound of.....not a troy pound....
no offense...but your grabbing at straws just to get a teaser posted...
Awwww....i hate the tricky ones!!!
i see what u mean with the answer, but u just put pounds, so its not that fair!!!!!!
w/e its a good 1!
w/e its a good 1!
i thought that they were the same too...
I thought it was the same. Silly old me
Hey, this is the "trick" category!
I too don't agree with the teaser. When it states a pond, it should weigh as a pound not troy pound!
you never mentioned what TYPE of pound
I thought a pound was a pound. Good try
You people aren't very bright, are you? He didn't specify what type of pound, so he has every right to say "troy pound." Great Teasr - a trick within a trick!
you told me this in school haha
If Troy or Avoirdupois units were specified in the question, you'd know the weights were different, and the teaser would be degraded to nothing more than a boring science question. This was obviously just meant to be a parody of the feathers/bricks riddle and was good for a laugh. I say good job!
You asked the wrong question. The question is which would you rather carry? Because it is a bulk issue not weight. My science teacher asked us that question not which is heavier, a lb is a lb. well i wont get into the gold weight issue, because you would still choose the gold, right who would turn down gold for feathers anyways, whats tthe trick in that!!
I thought it was talking about British money.
How fun would this teaser be? What weighs more? one pound of feathers or one troy pound of gold?
Easy! This is on OnlyRiddles.com in case you want to see.
The feathers for sure!!!!!! The weight of the feathers plus the emotional weight of what you did to the birds!!!!
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