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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Cringely, post: 836417, member: 22271&quot;]in one sense, zero because none of the ore/metal has left the planet (unless NASA has been keeping secrets<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie9" alt=":eek:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />).</p><p><br /></p><p>Let&#039;s look at US coinage and see what numbers (weights and volumes) we can come up with:</p><p>1¢: less than 20 billion minted </p><p>2¢: less than 46 million minted </p><p>3¢ CuNi: less than 42 million minted </p><p>3¢ silver: less than 31.3 million minted </p><p>half dimes:&nbsp; less than 98 million minted</p><p>5¢: less than 60 billion minted </p><p>10¢: less than 10 billion minted</p><p>clad10¢: less than 90 billion minted</p><p>20¢: less than 1.35 million minted </p><p>25¢: less than 9 billion minted </p><p>clad 25¢: less than 65 billion minted </p><p>50¢: less than 3 billion minted </p><p>clad 50¢: less than 1.7 billiion minted </p><p>$1 (silver):less than 900 million minted </p><p>clad $1 :less than 750 million minted </p><p>clad $1 :less than 895 million minted </p><p>&quot;golden&quot; $1: less than 1.5 billion minted </p><p>$1 (gold): less than20 million minted </p><p>$2.5 (gold): less than 21 million minted </p><p>$3 (gold): less than 540,000 minted </p><p>$5 (gold): less than 79 million minted </p><p>$10 (gold): less than 59 million minted </p><p>$20 (gold): less than 175 million minted</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; this works out (in terms of pure metal, not ore) to </p><p>&nbsp;<span style="color: Sienna">3,111 metric tons of copper</span> = 347 cubic meters or a cube 23.1 feet on each side</p><p>&nbsp;<span style="color: DimGray">143 metric tons of silver</span> = 13.6 cubic meters or a cube 7.8 feet on each side</p><p><span style="color: SandyBrown"> 7.6 metric tons of gold </span>= or 0.395 cubic meters or a cube 2.4 feet on each side </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><i>(and you can tell that I had far too much time on my hands this afternoon)</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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