[Mr. Green]

I seem to remember something from school about all object falling at the same rate of speed in a vacuum. But that could just be the heat talking.

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THey would both fall at 9.81 meters per second per second give or take depending on gravitional field strength where you are.

[warriorscot]

THey would both fall at 9.81 meters per second per second give or take depending on gravitional field strength where you are.

[Michelle]

A camper leaves her camp, hikes 1 mile south, then 1 mile east where she sees a bear. Then she hikes 1 mile north to arrive at her camp. What color is the bear?

It has to be the north pole, therefore the bear must be white.

I have two U.S. coins totaling 55 cents. One is not a nickel. What are the two coins?

[warriorscot]

Whats a nickel anyway i can never remember.

[daniel_c]

man i live in australia olny dollars and cents here.. do they still use nikels around the world?

[ProEd]

Michelle....

- re: the bear answer; not bad, not bad at all! Impressive, thinking outside the box. I like that.
- re: the coins; one 50 cent piece & one nickel.
- As for warriorscot & daniel_c, we would not expect you to get this one, no doubt I would fail on your currency questions, without looking it up on the www. A nickel is a (US) 5 cent piece and remains in regular use today in the US. The penny (1 cent) is, however, slowly going by the wayside as far as daily use at the local store as a cash item, etc. However, you can rest assured that the financial instutions (banks, cc companies, service providers, et al) do not miss a penny in their transactions or billings. Many pennies add up to alot of bucks. However, I recently received a billing for US$2.12. Imagine how much it cost that company (labor, paper, printing, mailing, postage, etc.) to bill me and then process the payment when received. As they say, common sense is not so common. Better to write off the $2.12 than to spend $100 plus to collect it.

Mr. Green.... I like your answer re: the rock/feather falling question. Simply put and practical. Are you an engineer? If not you may wish to consider this vocation.

warriorscot.... Your answer is fairly precise. I'll bet you did well in physics class. By the by; I have some QE halfpennies and pennies from my uncles from WWII. Last I heard, the halfpenny was no longer used in the UK. What about the penny? Just curious.

Now, why is a US nickel called a nickel?

Bonus point; why was the US nickel once called a "buffalo head".

[Johanna]

On the weight question:
Which is heavier, a lb. of gold or a lb. of steel?
This is a trick question.

Johanna

[ProEd]

On the weight question.... I would hope that an answer is not necessary. A pound is a pound folks.

Keep the faith.

[Johanna]

Well, ProEd, with all due respect, No.
A pound of steel weighs more than a pound of gold
because feathers are weighed by avoirdupois weight,
which has 16 ounces to a pound, while gold is always weighed by troy weight which only contains 12 ounces to a pound.
Gotcha!
Johanna

[ProEd]

Johanna.... with all due respect, gotcha nada. Mass is mass. Are you telling me that you weigh less if you step on a scale measured in kilograms than you would if you stepped on a scale measured in pounds (or stones for that matter)? That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

Measurement of any parameter for different substances is comparable only on a uniform scale; whether it be mass (weight for the non-technical), density, size, etc. Consider the various measurement systems (e.g., metric, U.S., Imperial, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, whatever). Is a cubit uniform in all measurement systems? Check it out and let me know what you find (but do not bet any serious money that it is). You cannot make a direct comparison between different systems of measurement (e.g., U.S., French, English, etc.). The various measurement systems are generally not comparable and can vary significantly though using similar terms (words).

You may mix semantics as you wish, however, any materials mass can only be equivalently compared to another by using the same system of measurement. You did not consider that. A pound is a pound in any uniform system of measurement.

An ounce of gold and an ounce of feathers are equivalent in mass (weight) if compared in the same measurement system, whether avoirdupois, trois or other. Same with a cubit (there was no uniform agreement on the length of a cubit in the old world, though the same word was used consistently).

In the end kid, you weigh the same regardless of the scale you step on.

[Mr. Green]

ProEd I am in the Army and am a military paralegal specialist. With some of the people I have to explain things to, it is often better to keep things quick and simple.

[dsenette]

mass is different than weight..(most people forget this)...just like a second is different than time...weight refers to a measurement standard..where as mass refers to a finite quantity...the problem here..is that you cannot express mass without using an accepted measurement standard (i.e. the killogram or the pound..)..so...if the question were posed which has more mass...a kilo of lead or a kilo of butter...the answer would indeed be..neither they are the same...
but in johanna's statement of which weigh's more...you have to take into acount the accepted measuring standards....as she said..one is weight using a standard that claims a pound to be 16 ounces...and another uses one that claims a pound to be only 12 ounces....so by definition...a pound by one measurement standard..is infact NOT the same as a pound in another measurement standard....if you were to state that they both had a MASS of 12 kg then neither would wiegh more

[Johanna]

Thank you, Funky Monkey- you just saved me a bunch of typing.

Johanna

[warriorscot]

Americans and your Imperial measurement. There is a reason why most places are on the metric system makes life so much easier.

I was indeed very good at physics and gravity is a topic i enjoyed, especially newtonian vs. relativistic calculations i always enjoyed messing around with them. I am alsi training to be an engineer myself or at least i am at the moment as long as the maths doesnt stop me(i used to love maths its a shame its actually hard now).

And also weight is also relative to the gravitaitonal field at that location which again varies, mass is the constant not weight, interesting notions also great to explain to children and cheerleaders, the looks of utter confusion are most enjoyable.

[frantique]

A man who is mute walks into a shop and wants to buy a toothbrush. By imitating the action of
brushing one's teeth, he successfully expresses himself to the shopkeeper and the purchase is done.

Now in comes a blind man who wishes to buy a pair of sunglasses. How should he express himself to be sure the shopkeeper understands what he wants?