Gold and Feathers
Trick brain teasers appear difficult at first, but they have a trick that makes them really easy.
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).
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Comments
Don Ray
Dec 08, 2001
| 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. |
Skunkali
Apr 24, 2002
| 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. |
Mogmatt16  
Oct 14, 2003
| shouldn;t this be trick? |
jimbo 
Nov 14, 2003
| 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.  |
jetdjc15
Aug 25, 2004
| A POUND IS A POUND IS A PUOND |
zigthepig 
Jan 21, 2006
| said "they're the same"  |
SPUTNIK2
Jan 27, 2006
| thought they'd be the same,but was wrong again   |
oddsniffer
Feb 15, 2006
| Good teaser but dont be so picky LOL   |
fezface 
Feb 24, 2006
| well, fine then.........be that way!!! |
mitzimesser
Mar 05, 2006
| 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. |
TehIgnored
Mar 09, 2006
| 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... |
warmonkey318
Mar 24, 2006
| Awwww....i hate the tricky ones!!! |
bballer21
Apr 09, 2006
| i see what u mean with the answer, but u just put pounds, so its not that fair!!!!!! 
w/e its a good 1! |
elshawno
May 25, 2006
| i thought that they were the same too... |
DEJL
Aug 05, 2006
| I thought it was the same. Silly old me |
GebbieRose
Aug 06, 2006
| Hey, this is the "trick" category!  |
Shriya
Sep 17, 2006
| I too don't agree with the teaser.  When it states a pond, it should weigh as a pound not troy pound! |
Dishhead5
Dec 17, 2006
| you never mentioned what TYPE of pound |
Lady_Lani 
Feb 09, 2007
| I thought a pound was a pound. Good try |
t4mt
Mar 04, 2007
| 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! |
Chocobo
Mar 07, 2007
| you told me this in school haha |
Subtox
Mar 16, 2007
| 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! |
DorbeckL
Apr 25, 2007
| 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!! |
saltydavid
Jul 11, 2007
| I thought it was talking about British money. |
RomanG417
Jul 28, 2009
| How fun would this teaser be? What weighs more? one pound of feathers or one troy pound of gold? |
thebrain789
Jul 07, 2010
| Easy! This is on OnlyRiddles.com in case you want to see. |
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