when an ounce is not an ounce

[removed account4]

over the past few years many people have purchased silver magnets from me
and i am very appreciative. i dont really make money from selling these, but what i appreciate is
that people are trying to do their part and not have silver in their waste stream.

i have used the term troy oz in the past when describing the weight of the silver on the cathode,
and this might be a source of confusion.
a troy oz is not the same as an " aviordupois oz"

the troy oz is a unit of measurement used in the precious metals industry
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_weight

in the avoirdupois system, there are 16 oz / lb, and in the troy system there are fewer.

 

[Rick A]

I always knew a Troy ounce weighed more than a standard ounce, I never gave a thought to how much they differed.

 

[wiltw]

9.71% difference, Troy ounce heavier

troy ounce = 31.103g
avoirdupois ounce =28.349g

 

[bsdunek]

This confuses a lot of people, so glad you posted this.
Remember to old question: What weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of gold? Must be feathers, because a pound of feathers weighs 16 oz., whereas a pound of gold only weighs 12 oz. As kids, we thought ounces were ounces.

 

[MattKing]

And of course, to add further confusion on the liquid side of the equation.

An imperial ounce is a different volume that a US ounce, and as far as I know, neither liquid ounce has any correlation with a weight ounce/

 

[wiltw]

And of course, to add further confusion on the liquid side of the equation.

An imperial ounce is a different volume that a US ounce, and as far as I know, neither liquid ounce has any correlation with a weight ounce/

One fluid ounce of water happens to also weigh 1 oz (avoirdupois)

 

[Vaughn]

An ounce is not an ounce when the seller rolls a big one out of it before he sells it.

 

[winger]

And a 10.5 oz bag of frozen mixed veggies is 2 cups (which is 16 fl oz).

 

[MattKing]

One fluid ounce of water happens to also weigh 4 oz (avoirdupois)

Are you sure?

That would mean a cup of water would weigh two pounds!

I think the answer might be closer to one ounce of water actually weighs one ounce (avoirdupois), at the right temperature.

 

[Rick A]

An ounce is not an ounce when the seller rolls a big one out of it before he sells it.

Um...yup

 

[winger]

'nough said. This is just a strong case in favor of the metric system.

YES

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

'nough said. This is just a strong case in favor of the metric system.

You've convinced me. I'll take a dozen pounds of those metric guys.

No. Wait a minute. Make that a baker's dozen.



Ken

 

[wiltw]

Are you sure?

That would mean a cup of water would weigh two pounds!

I think the answer might be closer to one ounce of water actually weighs one ounce (avoirdupois), at the right temperature.

Weighed an empty container, zero'd the scale...poured in 4 fl.oz. of water from a 4 fl.oz measuring cup, scale went from zero to 4 oz/ 113g.

One cup is 8 fl.oz. weighing 8 oz. It would take 4 cups of water to weigh 2 lbs.

 

[MattKing]

Weighed an empty cup, zero'd the scale...poured in 4 fl.oz. of water from a 4oz measuring cup, scale went from zero to 4 oz/ 113g.

Ah - so your original post should not have said "One fluid ounce of water happens to weigh 4 oz (avoirdupois)".

It should have said "Four fluid ounce(s) of water happens to weigh 4 oz (avoirdupois)".

 

[wiltw]

I fixed my earlier post to state what I meant to say.

 

[Sirius Glass]

1. There is the fluid [liquid] ounce, both US Standard and Imperial.
2. There is the dry ounce weight, both US Standard and Imperial.
3. There is the Troy ounce, again weight but not the same as #2.
4. There is the ounce of prevention which is none of the above.

 

[lxdude]

There's an old saying, "A pint's a pound the world around". Which I guess made some sense at the time the sun didn't set on the British Empire.

 

[lxdude]

Hmmm..I guess Dorothy actually met the Wizard of Ounce....