What weighs a million pounds?

[MidnightViper88]

I want a large-scale reference of weight...I want to know what two to three million pounds weighs, since I can't even imagine how much that is, but I don't even know what would weigh a million pounds or even a half-million pounds...

Why? Because I want to know how the hell the Nazis could have possibly built a super-heavy tank like the P 1000 or the P 1500 and even remotly expect such a behemoth to roll out onto the battlefield...

[Mr Jones]

Weight to size is not relevant.

You could have a million pounds of feathers and it'd still weigh the same as a million pounds of gold, the space that it occupies however would be vastly different, but the net weight result would be exactly the same.

[LeadFoot]

How about 4,474,574 lbs? That the listed weight of the Space shuttle. The Saturn-V was a hefty 6,699,000 lbs. Considering they both went into space, that seem pretty amazing.

The M1 Abrams is really light (comparatively speaking) at about 70 tons, and can be carried (one at a time) in a C-5 Galaxy.

But a tank that would have been 15 times the mass of a M1? Holy Crap!

[sgtfuzzbubble011]

Three of these weigh about 1,140,000 pounds altogether.

[Widdykats]

Or my deep dish Lasagna

[k_rock923]

Mmmm. Lasagna. Mail some this way the next time you make it.



Well, according to this site, the maximum weight of an 18 wheeler is 80 000 pounds.

So, 1 000 000 pounds is 12.5 max-weight 18-wheelers.

[P$ycHo™]

i wonder what engine you need to make that weight move...

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

$1,814,369.48 in modern (post 1982) Lincoln cents would weigh exactly 1,000,000 pounds.

Or about $19,999,664 in quarters.


Also, 1 pound of gold (since it's measured in TROY) weighs 0.8228570952 normal pounds.

A normal ton of feathers would weigh 2000 pounds, whereas 2000 troy pounds of gold would weigh 1645.71419 pounds.

In this case, a ton of feathers weighs more than a ton of gold.

[jheriko]

Originally posted by Mr Jones
Weight to size is not relevant.

You could have a million pounds of feathers and it'd still weigh the same as a million pounds of gold, the space that it occupies however would be vastly different, but the net weight result would be exactly the same.

This is a common misconception, although the weight is the same, the density is very relevant. A lead ball falls faster than feathers because it is more dense and offers less surface area to air resistance. Likewise, in the application of a tank, the size matters, and the structure. It would have to distribute the weight effectively without putting too much pressure on anyone point and the more dense it becomes the harder it would be to do this. For example the treads would need to become wider and longer etc... to ensure they are not destroyed under the weight.

For something that weighs 2-3 million pounds you are looking at a small battleship of some kind. Although naval tonnage does not correspond with weight, but rather the volume which the ship encloses, it is still a reasonable approximation. For comparison USS Enterprise displaces on the order of 100,000 tons of water.

EDIT: (2-3 million pounds is conveniently ~1000 metric tons)

[k_rock923]

You didn't really say anything though. Are you disagreeing with Mr Jones that a million pounds of feathers and a million pounds of gold weigh the same?

There is no common misconception at all. They do in fact, both weigh one million pounds.

You added some information, though for a specific case in which it matters. But even that's not entirely true.

It's all air resistance. If you drop a paper thin sheet of lead (ignoring whether it is actually that malleable) and a bowling ball, will the very subject to air resistance piece of lead still fall faster because it is more dense?

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

Originally posted by k_rock923
(ignoring whether it is actually that malleable)

http://www.atnuke.com/nuclear/lead/leadfoil.html

http://www.tv.com/mythbusters/lead-balloon!/episode/1129062/summary.html?tag=ep_list;title;1

[ShyShy]

It's the nerd war of words!!!!

[General Geoff]

You didn't really say anything though. Are you disagreeing with Mr Jones that a million pounds of feathers and a million pounds of gold weigh the same?

There is no common misconception at all. They do in fact, both weigh one million pounds.

They both weigh a million pounds, but the feathers weigh more due to their being measured in avoirdupois pounds vs troy, as SSJ4 mentioned.

[k_rock923]

You're assuming that when I say pound, I mean the common for each. I mean avoirdupois for both.

Sheesh. This is ridiculous.

If I say one million grams instead of pounds, are you going to say 'well, it's not really the same' for that, too or are you just going to admit that maybe there is a single point in a single post that you can't find something wrong with?

[General Geoff]

If you want to be scientific about it, don't use imperial measurements. Use kilograms.