Guess the Weight

andy21us · 08-11-2009, 11:00 PM

A co-worker told me that he had a water bottle filled almost a third of the bottle and wanted to know if I would be interested in buying it, but he did not know how much was in it. I told him to bring it to work and we would weigh it to find the amount of cents that were in the bottle, which we did.

How I thought that some of you CT would like a challenge to guess the amount of cents that was in the water bottle. The weight was 52.03 lbs minus the weight of the water bottle. Here are some pictures of the cents and bottle. I will post my findings later with the amount of coins I found.

danisanub · 08-11-2009, 11:07 PM

I don't know what I did wrong, but I'm pretty sure I am.

52.04 pounds = 832.64 ounces

832.64ozs/(avg weight of penny pre 1982 is 3.1 gram, post 2.5, so I did 2.8)

= 297.37142857142857142857142857143 pennies?

I am completely wrong...

Edit: I figured out that I was suppose to convert to grams, not ozs. It's late, I'm tired :]

illini420 · 08-11-2009, 11:13 PM

I'll guess $81.05

But I sure hope you're counting by hand and not taking them to a machine... just think of all of the fun searching for varieties like '95 DDOs, '83 DDRs, etc.

danisanub · 08-11-2009, 11:17 PM

yeah I say 80$, I converted pounds to grams and divided by 2.8, = 8,430.338198 pennies, - weight of water, 8000 pennies

krispy · 08-11-2009, 11:22 PM

Spatially, to me, this appears to be less than 1/3 filled with cents. If all of the coins in that bottle are US Cents only (no Canucks, dimes, buttons...) and they should weigh 3.11* grams each, a 5 gallon water bottle would weigh about 43 lbs. full, so minus the water, an empty bottle might be a little more than a pound alone, I will go with 1.3 lbs. for the bottle weight, minus your 52.03lbs given (hoping your scale is accurate), then I'll wager, that you may well have a grand total of 7,398 cents, or USD$73.98.

*that's the weight I'm using as my average since most will likely be modern.

**TheNoost** · 08-11-2009, 11:32 PM

70.08

**GDJMSP** · 08-12-2009, 08:14 AM

Don't forget guys - pre '82 cents are 3.11 grams. Post '82 cents are 2.5 grams. Only way to get an accurate count is to physically count every one.

krispy · 08-12-2009, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GDJMSP

Don't forget guys - pre '82 cents are 3.11 grams. Post '82 cents are 2.5 grams. Only way to get an accurate count is to physically count every one.

So what's your guess?

**GDJMSP** · 08-12-2009, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krispy

So what's your guess?

I wouldn't even try to guess.

krispy · 08-12-2009, 08:39 AM

???

Collect89 · 08-12-2009, 11:10 AM

My SWAG is $79.88 including the 7 Canadian coins, 1 washer, and 13 dimes.

Here is the math to calculate the total number of coins by weight. You must make your two weight measurements in the same units of measure such as pounds or grams. Do not make one measurement in grams and the other measurement in pounds.

Weigh the entire lot of coins without the bottle. This is (weight of unknown coins)

Weigh a randomly selected 100 coins from the bottle. This is (weight of 100 coins).

Total Number of Coins = (100) x (weight of unknown coins) / (weight of 100 coins)

Have fun searching them & please post what you find.

Very best regards,
collect89

Vess1 · 08-12-2009, 11:36 AM

52.03 lbs = 23,600.41 grams.

I'm gonna say 60% of the weight is 82's and pre-82's. 40% zincs. Around the ratio I receive them. It seems like I get slightly more older ones than newer ones.

14,160/3.11 = 4,553 pre-82s.

9,440/2.5 = 3,776 zinc

There should be around 8,329 of them. I'll say $83.29

In fact, I wouldn't be suprised if there were just slightly more than that accounting for lighter ones from circulation wear. Although it's a total wild guess trying to account for the dates involved.

Tater · 08-12-2009, 11:44 AM

My SWAG is $84.96. I'd show you my assumptions and calculations, but its is a SWAG.

andy21us · 08-12-2009, 02:41 PM

There were two way that we could have figure this problem: one was just count and rolled the coin as I searched through them, or try to calculate the amount of coins that was in the bottle. The co-worker need the money and did not want to pay the cost of taken them to a coin mechine so the first option was out. In order to use the second option there were 2 factor that we need to take into account. The first factor was as Doug mention, the weigh of the cent change, 2 what else was in the bottle (nickles, dimes, and foreign coins). The only way to get around the weigh change is to take an average of the coins, 50% per 1982 and 50% 1982 to date. The second factor we did not concern with because if there were other coins they would not account for much of the weight (Canadan cents .15 oz, Dime .05 oz). With this in mind we come up with this formual: weight of coins 52.03 times the oz in a lb 16 dividend by the average weight of 100 cents (50% per1982 and 50% 1982 to date) which is 9.40 oz = 8856 cents.

Now come the fun part going through all the cents. After 3 days searching this is what I come up with.

1-1926S
1-1933D
1-1934
1-1935
1-1936
1-1939D
3-1940S
5-1941
6-1945
2-1946
12-1949
3-1949S
15-1951D
5-1951S
1-1952
6-1955S
5-1956
6-1957
1-1960 small
2-1970S small
52-other s mint marks

Errors

18- die cracks
1- 1984 DDO (Damage)
1- 1984 Strike Through

Othe Coins

5-Nickels
4-Dimes
6- Canadan cents
1- 2 cent EURO 1999
1- 1 SEN 1999 FROM THE Bank Negara Malaysia

Total 8838 cents.

Total face value $89.03

Here are the pictures of the two 1984's

danisanub · 08-12-2009, 02:47 PM

Nice finds, well worth the money! No one was really close :/

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