Quote Originally Posted by highway View Post
A typo, perhaps in the below quote, page 1:

"As an example, let’s start with 16 ounces (2 cups), (1.25pounds) of water as a standard volume, 2 cups being a typical amount of water used by backpackers when cooking."

If one fluid ounce of water weighs 1.043 ounces by weight, then would not 16 ounces weigh 16.688 ounces or 1.043 pounds?
Extremely close. One gallon of fresh tap water weighs 8.337 pounds, therefore one pint weighs 1.042125 pounds or 16.674 avoirdupois ounces. I doubt that the number of angels on the head of a pin needs to be worried about to this extent, but it's a number that I accidentally memorized some years ago.

Non-memorized numbers that might help are as follows: one pint of water weighs 472.69994858625 grams (round as you wish). One fluid ounce of water weighs 29.543746786640625 grams. One ounce (avoirdupois) = 28.349523125 grams. Again, round as much as you care to. I do all of the calculations and then round at the very end, thus assuring the accuracy required, whatever that might be. Since my scale only goes to tenths of an ounce and whole grams, the end number gets rounded quite a bit.

Before I broke my brain, I used to be a toolmaker and numbers were a great big fat deal. I still enjoy them quite a bit, even though they're no longer as big a part of my life.

The one ounce = 28.349523125 grams number came from Wikipedia, and is probably close enough. The temperature where it is most accurate is at four degrees Celsius.

I was much more sure of these numbers before I started researching and writing this post.

If there is anyone that wants to laugh, I think here is where you come in.