Golden Idol, how much would it weigh?

[DarkHelmet]

I am about to sculpt my own idol. Being a stickler for authenticity, I want to make it as heavy as possible to replicate the weight of that much gold.

Any thoughts or ideas on how heavy that much gold would be?

 

[wolverine solo]

more than a bag of sand you can bet, LOL!!:thumbsup

 

[DarkHelmet]

more than a bag of sand you can bet, LOL!!:thumbsup

Oh stop it.... :lol

 

[WinstonWolf359]

I think it would depend on if you believed the real idol was solid gold, hollow, or gold-plated wood.

I'm of the opinion it would have either been hollow or gold-plated wood, and not particularly heavy. Maybe pound and a half, two pounds?

 

[Mr. Nagata]

You won't be able to make your idol as heavy as gold unless you fill it with gold. Even if you filled it with lead, it wouldn't be as heavy as solid gold.

 

[hankey01]

Well if I did my math right..and I assumed the overall dimensions of the Idol as 6.5" tall, 4" deep and 4" wide...that gives us 104 cubic inches.

According to this site (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Weight_of_gold_per_one_cubic_inch) gold weighs 316.598 grams/cubic inch...so that means we are at 32, 926 grams..

Which is 72.6 Lbs...

HEAVY!!

 

[Mr. Nagata]

My point is that there's no physical way of making your idol as heavy as solid gold, so it makes no difference what the "actual" weight would be. It's a hopeless endeavor.

 

[hankey01]

Electromagnets!!!

 

[Mr. Nagata]

:lol Or maybe you could glue it to the table and challenge people to pick it up. Heavy, ain't it?

 

[agent5]

I think historical accuracy shows it would most likely be made of gold plated wood. That would make sense on why Indy only picked up a faily small amount of sand to switch it with.

 

[Jedifyfe]

I think historical accuracy shows it would most likely be made of gold plated wood. That would make sense on why Indy only picked up a faily small amount of sand to switch it with.

I always thought it would've been stone covered in gold...

 

[PHArchivist]

I always thought it would've been stone covered in gold...

I agree with both Brad and Jason. I've read that the plated wood theory is most accurate, but would expect (and perfer) some for of fired pottery plated in gold.

 

[CessnaDriver]

If it were supposed to be solid gold, they all would have been straining to carry it somewhat.

 

[Jedifyfe]

If it were supposed to be solid gold, they all would have been straining to carry it somewhat.

Therefor the title should've been "Indiana Jones and the MASSIVE HERNIA" :lol :lol

 

[PHArchivist]

How much more does gold weigh than lead? A 25 pound bag of lead shot has roughly the same volume as the idol.

 

[Mr. Nagata]

I believe gold is about twice as heavy as lead. They're very close on the periodic table, but gold is almost twice as dense. I think.

 

[Goodwolf]

My point is that there's no physical way of making your idol as heavy as solid gold, so it makes no difference what the "actual" weight would be. It's a hopeless endeavor.

Sure there is. You could make it out of gold.:lol

 

[Snoballz]

more than a bag of sand you can bet, LOL!!:thumbsup

wait... wouldn't it weigh less than a bag of sand? :angel

 

[cheech9898]

Sure there is. You could make it out of gold.:lol

What about gold plated platinum? It has a higher density and you could hollow cast it... just start collecting catalytic converts from the neighborhood vehicles and tell the neighbors its for an accurate prop replica.

 

[SmilingOtter]

If you decide to make it solid, uranium would be about the right weight...