5 ms·

At one point, I worked out that US dimes, quarters, and half dollars all weigh $20/lb (iirc), which made the task of counting my accumulated change a lot easier

by kd5bjo 2y ago

At one point, I worked out that US dimes, quarters, and half dollars all weigh $20/lb (iirc), which made the task of counting my accumulated change a lot easier.

Someone 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_of_the_United_States_dollar#Coins_in_circulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_of_the_United_States_dol... confirms that, and shows it works for dollar coins, too (I’m using the weights in grains because that makes the comparison easier; a pound is exactly 7,000 grains) Dime: 35 gr Quarter: 87.5 gr Half-dollar: 175 gr Dollar: 350 gr
- t-3 2y ago
  Nickel is ~5 grams. Dollar bill is ~1 gram.
  - JKCalhoun 2y ago
    I like how easy it is to remember nickel == 5 g.
    - ProllyInfamous 2y ago
      The "ten US nickles is always 50g" mantra has helped me detect several defective scales (whether intentional or not, I want accuracy).
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  Note that the names for the first three coins are all units of subdivision. "Quarter" and "half" most obviously, dime comes from the Latin decima, meaning "one tenth". The equivalent Roman coin was the denarius. "Nickel" and "penny" break that pattern, with the first referencing the composition of the coin (originally called a "half-dime"), and penny is a measure of weight, varying by locale. The British penny is 1/240 of a Tower pound (later decimalised to 1/100 in the 1960s), whilst an American pennyweight (used for example in reference to nails) is 1/1000th of a pound. <https://www.etymonline.com/word/nickel https://www.etymonline.com/word/nickel> <https://www.etymonline.com/word/penny https://www.etymonline.com/word/penny>
kragen 2y ago
That's because that was the price of silver. The mint was for many centuries a way to get your precious metals divided into units of standardized weights that were stamped to certify their authenticity, thus facilitating commerce, though frequently rulers succumbed to the temptation of "debasing" them by diluting the precious metals with so-called "base" (in the sense of "low", "contemptible") metals such as tin, lead, and zinc. So quarters weren't worth 25¢ because the government said so; they were worth 25¢ because they were made out of 25¢ worth of silver. That's the same reason "peso" means "weight" and the "shekel" and "pound" take their name from units of weight. This ended in 01965 in the USA, followed by the end of the gold standard, since which the dollar has lost 96% of its value relative to the precious metals that used to define it. The consensus among economists is that this is a good thing because it prevents deflation. I'm not sure.
- swores 2y ago
  Off topic, but may I ask why you use a leading zero when writing the year? (01965 rather than 1965) You're not the only person I've seen do it on this site, and I can't recall ever seeing it not on this site, so I'm wondering if its because you're in the habit (or wanting to be in the habit) for some technical thing you do like working on a database that needs years in that format, or if there's some reason you feel that its better to write them that way in prose?
  - mandmandam 2y ago
    It's a Long Now Foundation concept [0]. The idea is to encourage people to think on a more civilizational time scale, and avoid another 'millenium bug' problem in ~7095 years. 0 - https://longnow.org/about/ https://longnow.org/about/
    - AStonesThrow 2y ago
      I am relieved that when archaeologists download HN archives 7095 years from now, they won't be confused about which "1965" we were discussing! https://xkcd.com/1683/ https://xkcd.com/1683/

by kd5bjo 2y ago

At one point, I worked out that US dimes, quarters, and half dollars all weigh $20/lb (iirc), which made the task of counting my accumulated change a lot easier.

Someone 2y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_of_the_United_States_dollar#Coins_in_circulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_of_the_United_States_dol... confirms that, and shows it works for dollar coins, too (I’m using the weights in grains because that makes the comparison easier; a pound is exactly 7,000 grains) Dime: 35 gr Quarter: 87.5 gr Half-dollar: 175 gr Dollar: 350 gr

t-3 2y ago
Nickel is ~5 grams. Dollar bill is ~1 gram.
- JKCalhoun 2y ago
  I like how easy it is to remember nickel == 5 g.
  - ProllyInfamous 2y ago
    The "ten US nickles is always 50g" mantra has helped me detect several defective scales (whether intentional or not, I want accuracy).
dredmorbius 2y ago
Note that the names for the first three coins are all units of subdivision. "Quarter" and "half" most obviously, dime comes from the Latin decima, meaning "one tenth". The equivalent Roman coin was the denarius. "Nickel" and "penny" break that pattern, with the first referencing the composition of the coin (originally called a "half-dime"), and penny is a measure of weight, varying by locale. The British penny is 1/240 of a Tower pound (later decimalised to 1/100 in the 1960s), whilst an American pennyweight (used for example in reference to nails) is 1/1000th of a pound. <https://www.etymonline.com/word/nickel https://www.etymonline.com/word/nickel> <https://www.etymonline.com/word/penny https://www.etymonline.com/word/penny>

kragen 2y ago

That's because that was the price of silver. The mint was for many centuries a way to get your precious metals divided into units of standardized weights that were stamped to certify their authenticity, thus facilitating commerce, though frequently rulers succumbed to the temptation of "debasing" them by diluting the precious metals with so-called "base" (in the sense of "low", "contemptible") metals such as tin, lead, and zinc. So quarters weren't worth 25¢ because the government said so; they were worth 25¢ because they were made out of 25¢ worth of silver. That's the same reason "peso" means "weight" and the "shekel" and "pound" take their name from units of weight. This ended in 01965 in the USA, followed by the end of the gold standard, since which the dollar has lost 96% of its value relative to the precious metals that used to define it. The consensus among economists is that this is a good thing because it prevents deflation. I'm not sure.

swores 2y ago
Off topic, but may I ask why you use a leading zero when writing the year? (01965 rather than 1965) You're not the only person I've seen do it on this site, and I can't recall ever seeing it not on this site, so I'm wondering if its because you're in the habit (or wanting to be in the habit) for some technical thing you do like working on a database that needs years in that format, or if there's some reason you feel that its better to write them that way in prose?
- mandmandam 2y ago
  It's a Long Now Foundation concept [0]. The idea is to encourage people to think on a more civilizational time scale, and avoid another 'millenium bug' problem in ~7095 years. 0 - https://longnow.org/about/ https://longnow.org/about/
  - AStonesThrow 2y ago
    I am relieved that when archaeologists download HN archives 7095 years from now, they won't be confused about which "1965" we were discussing! https://xkcd.com/1683/ https://xkcd.com/1683/