ken thompson
Second Unit
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2000
- Messages
- 251
Are we talking Brittish Pounds here?
If you used a compresor to inflate the balloon with atmospheric air, it would weigh the same as a uninflated balloon, although the masses would obviously be different.This is actually not true. (About the weights being the same, that is. You're correct about the masses being different.) The reason is precisely because you must use a compressor (or similar device) to get air into the latex balloon. Though it wouldn't be as heavy (weighty) as an identical balloon filled with exhaled air for the reasons you indicate, the elasticity of the balloon slightly compresses the inside air, making it more dense (thus heavier) than surrounding air. (This is why I specified a latex balloon instead of a mylar balloon, which can be filled for most of its volume without compression. )
If this is actually a standards question, then someone's gonna pay...
Maybe you should ask him how much a pound of horsesh** weighs.
I'm waiting to see your teacher's "answer" on this... sounds like crap to me. A pound is a pound, under the conditions described. UNLESS it's a trick question somehow...
Because the bulk of the feathers will be slightly farther from the center of the Earth than the bulk of the nails.True, but only assuming that the nails and feathers are piled up in a particular way.
This isn't a question with a linguistic twist, is it? 'Pound' could mean as in a 'dog pound' - assuming this to be true, then should someone be insane enough to build two pounds of identical dimensions, one out of nails, the other out of feathers, of course the nails one would weigh more. Likewise if 'pound' means 'hit', then being hit with a bag of nails would exert far more force than a bag of feathers of the same size.
I'm thinking too hard again, aren't I?
And yes, this is a standards question
Wrong. This is not a standards question. Nor is it a play on words. He means pounds as a measurement of weight (16 ounces), not dog pounds, nor British pounds or anything of the like.
My teacher has explained why he feels a pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of nails and after running it through my head for the past week or so, I am begining to believe him.
I will give his explanation on this eventually. I think we have a Ph.D. in physics guy on the board here somewhere, I'm waiting for him to chime in and hear what he has to say. Or if someone says anything remotely close to his reasonings I'll chime in then. Until that time, keep guessing.