Do you love math? No? I’m shocked. #Sarcasm. Maybe you do, but in the past, I have not. Part of the reason, I’m sure, has to do with how mathematics were taught throughout my formative years, when it was all taken so seriously, and teaching methods were not as imaginative and as engaging as they are today. Consequently, I only became enamored of math much later, when more advanced subjects were taught. I may have hit the wall at fractions, but once I got to geometry and trigonometry, it became a fascination. Solving theorems became a game, a puzzle, much more like the brain teasers my brother and I enjoyed as kids, and much less like the rote memorization of multiplication tables or the mystifying disciplines of algebra. For all the times you, or your kids, have ever wailed, “when am I ever going to use this in real life?” I have found some fun and rewarding applications of math concepts to jewelry. No, I’m not kidding.
Some years ago, I recall reading some factoids about platinum that I thought were interesting, and one bit of trivia in particular intrigued me. It was one of those “did you know” questions, and the claim was that [bctt tweet=”Platinum is so heavy that if a six-inch cube of it were placed on the floor in front of you, you would be unable to pick it up.”] Fascinating, right? A six-inch cube is pretty small, and that seemed like a dubious claim. It stayed with me, though, and I decided I wanted to verify that claim, and even compare it to the weight of other metals. This is when a tiny bit of math got to be pretty fun.
Nowadays, thanks to the Internet, there are all sorts of calculators readily available for fact-checking, and there’s pretty much nothing you cannot know, thanks to our alt.brain, Google.com. So, I found a mass/volume calculator, and started plugging in various volumes and materials, and I concluded that, in fact, it’s true: Most of us would be unable to pick up a six-inch cube of platinum.
The more materials I plugged into the calculator, the more curious I became, so the list of materials grew ever longer until I realized this could be an interesting blog article. So, here it is! Below is a short list of metals I plugged into the calculator, along with platinum, just so you have a basis for comparison. I found this so interesting that I plan to write another, similar post, because it would also be fun to compare metals against other substances, such as glass or wood.
Since the original bit of trivia mentioned a six-inch cube, I stayed with that. I decided to go with the given density of the materials I chose, since I was not going to look up each individually. Therefore, the below weights are approximate, assuming metal purity, exact measurements, etc. In other words, this is not scientific. To refresh your memory (for some of us, math class was longer ago than for others), here are the basics:
1: To calculate the volume of a cube, take the edge length of the cube to the power of 3.
2: The weight of an object is calculated by multiplying the volume by the density of the material.
Okay, the above was just for your information. You don’t have to do any math. Whew.
A six-inch cube of:
Steel is 61.68 lbs.
Silver is 82.33 lbs.
Gold is 151.75 lbs.
Platinum is 168.46 lbs.
As you can see, it’s true. Platinum is quite heavy. As much as I may want to, I would be unable to pick up and abscond with that pretty little cube of platinum. At least, not without help. Or a hand truck.
Here are some other metals that are much lighter, again, for a basis of comparison:
Aluminum: 21.19 lbs.
Titanium: 35.46 lbs.
Brass: 66.71 lbs.
Copper: 70.10 lbs.
Again, we are assuming the metal density, which I am in no position to dispute, and calculating the weight of a six-inch cube. Fun!
There you have it. Next time you are playing a game of trivial Pursuit or equivalent, you’ll be armed with the answers you need. Look out, Jeopardy champions! Whichever metal is your favorite, may it be the math problem of your dreams. Sparkle on!
Laura
Laura Legendary is the owner of Elegant Insights Braille Creations, a distinctive collection of jewelry and accessories embossed in braille. Shop the collection at elegantinsightsjewelry.com