A Ton of Iron and a Ton of Feathers

[Christan]

They weigh the same. If you can figure out how to make a scale hold that amount of feathers, then it'll balance.

the weight is the same, yep it would balance, but god the volume would be so different

like . <iron and O < feathers, more than that probably who knows

Lets revisit the vacuum idea. Feathers are less dense than steel so a ton of feathers would displace more air than a ton of steel. So if you were to weigh out a ton of steel and a ton of feathers then put them in a vacuum the feathers would weigh slightly more.


Not true. Since the air is pressing on the objects and scale from all directions not just down. the forces cancel each other out.

less dense means nothing in a vacuum however, a bowling ball and 1 feather would fall at the same speed (whatever the specific gravity is, like 90 something kmph here on earth)

and yep, the air is pressing in from all sides this is the reason a sphere is the strongest object when dealing with outside force, if the force at the bottom of the ocean was only down a cone would work D with the flat side down. deep sea divers though have this sphere idea going on though because the water below is pushing up as well.
(a scale large enough to hold the feathers would have air pressing upwards as well as down)

the first part if what you said is slightly wrong though, but a common misnomer.

a ton is a ton

[DeltrusDisc]

Why can't they? >_>

[GarGar]

You guys are not thinking this problem out simply.... feathers can be condensed, or packed. So the area truly needed isnt as big as 1 might think.

This would be my response exactly. Feathers conceptually contain a lot of air, which normally takes up a lot of space. If you take a bunch of feathers, put them in a bag and suck all the air out, they won't take up much space. You could reasonably weigh a few pallets totaling 1 ton of iron with a few pallets totaling 1 ton of feather bags. They'll be the same.

[Boldwyn]

This would be my response exactly. Feathers conceptually contain a lot of air, which normally takes up a lot of space.

And this is something you are all missing - the buoyancy of iron/feathers due to volume.

In vacuum the scale would show the same. In atmosphere, feathers would "weight" less. An example to help visualize it: imagine instead of feathers you have a helium baloon that weight 1 ton. But it wouldn't even stay on the scale, it would float up.

[Romeo83x]

I'm going to get banned for this, but it'll be worth it.

This is the dumbest post I've read in the last 3 months.