Encourage one another and build one another up. Pray without ceasing. Test everything. Keep what is good. Avoid all evil. -1 Thess 5:11,17,21,22
Monday, January 31, 2022
A math problem
Ian Ion, spaceman, discovered a large gold nugget on the moon where gravity is 1/6 that of earth. The nugget has a mass, on the moon, of 1/6th of a kg. A kg of gold has a value of $60,000 on Earth.
Like everything else, it is worth what someone will pay you yo part with it. On the moon there ate few buyers, consequently in place (on the moon) it is worth nothing.
If that gold nugget were on earth, it would be worth $10,000. The nugget is actually worth $10,000 minus whatever it costs to transport it back to earth (IanJ appears to have been first to answer)
Just at a loose end today. I suppose an accountant might try to work out the marginal cost of carrying it on an existing flight - that could make it quite cheap, but I don't know how much extra fuel would be needed for getting into orbit/re-entry
Mass is mass, irrespective of the local gravitational field. If the nugget was on earth, it would be worth $10,000 in mineral value. As others have pointed out, however, there is additional value in it being a scarce moon nugget and there are transportation costs but presumably our spaceman is returning home anyway, so the incremental transportation cost is probably negligible.
probably a massive negative - given the cost of transport to get it back to the earth
ReplyDeleteThat's just where I was going.
DeleteLike everything else, it is worth what someone will pay you yo part with it. On the moon there ate few buyers, consequently in place (on the moon) it is worth nothing.
ReplyDeleteWelp... you wrote "mass" as opposed to "weight" soooo... on Earth the weight of the nugget will be 1/6th of a kilogram thus having a value of $10,000.
ReplyDeleteDa Perfessor
Where?
ReplyDeleteMass is mass anywhere. That is why the metric system is so useful.
ReplyDelete$10,000
More than it's worth to transport it... :-)
ReplyDeleteIf that gold nugget were on earth, it would be worth $10,000.
ReplyDeleteThe nugget is actually worth $10,000 minus whatever it costs to transport it back to earth (IanJ appears to have been first to answer)
Just at a loose end today. I suppose an accountant might try to work out the marginal cost of carrying it on an existing flight - that could make it quite cheap, but I don't know how much extra fuel would be needed for getting into orbit/re-entry
Deleteand I forgot to include 'rarity' value - Didn't some moon rock sell for a small fortune on **-bay
DeleteMethinks your audience falls outside the normal bell curve distribution, Joe.
ReplyDelete$60,000
ReplyDelete$ 60,000
ReplyDelete$60k
ReplyDeleteMass is mass, irrespective of the local gravitational field. If the nugget was on earth, it would be worth $10,000 in mineral value. As others have pointed out, however, there is additional value in it being a scarce moon nugget and there are transportation costs but presumably our spaceman is returning home anyway, so the incremental transportation cost is probably negligible.
ReplyDeleteDa Perfessor was the first person to respond with the answer I was fishing for.
ReplyDeleteWe commonly interchange "weight" and "mass" because weighing something in a know gravity is the most economical way to determine something's mass.
$10K
ReplyDelete$60k of course.
ReplyDeleteThe window dressing makes it hard to see for some.