1/23/2015

Density of metals

Experiments with magnets and conductors

Densities of materials
metal

g/cm3

lb/in3

lb/ft3

lb/gal

water
aluminum
zinc
iron
copper
silver
lead
mercury

1.00
2.70
7.13
7.87
8.96
10.49
11.36
13.55

0.036
0.098
0.258
0.284
0.324
0.379
0.410
0.490

62
169
445
491
559
655
709
846

8.35
22.53
59.50
65.68
74.78
87.54
94.80
113.08

GOLD

19.32

0.698

1206

161.23

Please note that g/cm3 can also be written as gcm-3

When lb (pounds) is used in this table, this is actually pounds mass, equivalent to approximately 0.454
kg.
When a pound is used as a force (weight) in the paragraph below, it is equivalent to approximately
4.45 Newtons.
The gal (gallon) is the US gallon, not the imperial gallon. It is equivalent to approximately 3.785
Liters.
As a volume, the US gallon is approximately equal to 3.785x10-3 m-3
For comparison, a US nickel has a mass of about 5.0g.
The lb/gal column is used for comparison to a container that would hold a gallon of milk, which
weights about 8.4 lb (it's mostly water). This is something that would be familiar to most families in
the US since they would have such a container in their refrigerator at home, and they know what it
feels like when they try to lift that gallon container filled with milk.
If that milk were changed to aluminum, it would weigh about 22.5 lb. If it were changed to GOLD ,
it would weigh about 161 lb (19 gallons of water)! Did you notice that copper is denser than iron? A
cubic foot of iron would weigh 491 lb. A cubic foot of copper would weigh 559 lb. Silver is even
denser than copper, at 655 lb for a cubic foot. Gold is really heavy at 1206 lb for a cubic foot. When
you see a movie of thieves carrying bars of gold, you know they are faking it!

http://www.coolmagnetman.com/magconda.htm

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