Pure Gold Shot
Photo Credit: The Guardian

That's right, a pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold. Let me explain why. Feathers are weighed in avoirdupois ounces, the kind that most of us are familiar with. The common ounce weighs 28.35 grams and 16 ounces makes an avoirdupois pound. A calculator tells us that this comes out to 453.6 grams.

However, gold and other precious metals (and anything that is shot into the air, such as bullets and arrowheads) are weighed in the troy system. Troy ounces contain 31.1 grams and 12 troy ounces make a troy pound. Bringing out the calculator again we see that a troy pound weighs 373.2 grams.

Therefore a pound of feathers is 21% heavier than a pound of gold.

The observant reader will note that the opposite is true in regard to ounces: an ounce of feathers (28.35 gms) weighs less than an ounce of gold (31.1 grams).

This article was inspired by a question on Answers.com: "How many grams in 4 ounces of gold?"

Someone responded:

Answer:

Saying that it's gold is of no added value, since 4 ounces of feathers weigh the same as 4 ounces of lead. 4 ounces equal 113.4 grams.

This person obviously does not know what they are talking about. That the item is gold is quite pertinent. The correct answer is that 4 ounces of gold weighs 124.4 grams.