* One _cent_ coins apparently cost a lot to make: "The US Mint reported that in fiscal year 2010 the cost of producing and shipping one-cent coins was $0.0179, i.e. more than the face value of the coin." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_%28United_States_coin%29 * One _dollar_ coins apparently cost a least 30 cents each to make: "And even though the neglected mountain of money recently grew past the $1 billion mark, the U.S. Mint will keep making more and more of the coins under a congressional mandate. The pile of idle coins, which so far cost $300 million to manufacture, could double by the time the program ends in 2016, the Federal Reserve told Congress last year." "So, there are now about 1.2 billion dollar-coin "assets" chilling in Federal Reserve vaults, unloved and bearing no interest. By the time the presidential coin series finishes, and there are coins honoring all past presidents, there could be 2 billion." http://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/137394348/-1-billion-that-nobody-wants Current U.S. dollar coin weighs 8.1g -- a lot less than 2.5*100=250g ~ .55 pounds in pennies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_coin_%28United_States%29 At 12:05 PM 7/16/2011, James Cloos wrote:
"HB" == Henry Baker <hbaker1@pipeline.com> writes:
HB> Hmmm.... A trillion dollars in pennies must weigh quite a lot. (2.5g HB> * 10^12 = 2.5*10^9kg ~ 2.5*10^6 tons). (And, yes, even though the HB> penny is now mostly zinc, its metal value is still worth more than a HB> penny, thanks to the devaluation of the dollar!)
You lost the 100 c/$ in there, yes?
:; units
You have: 2.5 g * 1e12 * 100 You want: megatonne * 250
You have: 2.5 g * 1e14 You want: megaton * 275.57783 / 0.003628739
(first metric tonnes, then short tons).
According to http://www.metalprices.com/FreeSite/metals/zn/zn.asp 2.5 g of zinc is worth on the order of 0.584 US cents.
-JimC -- James Cloos <cloos@jhcloos.com> OpenPGP: 1024D/ED7DAEA6