Numbers matter
I frequently run into situations in online fiction (and even printed books) where the author has neglected to do some simple math, and has thus set up a situation that is embarrassingly stupid for anyone who has a feel for the numbers involved.
What got me think on this most recently was a story where someone had managed to get the better of some Russian Mafia bosses, and got their stashes of gold.
Ok, he got things right in moving the stashes from the chests they were in to a number of suitcasres, at about 40 pounds per suitcase.
What he got wrong was having the chests be "full" of gold bars and krugerrands. and yout only amount around 300lbs.
Gold has a density of 19.3. That means that a given volume of gold weighs 19.3 times what the same volume of water would weigh. So, that means 1 liter of gold weighs 19.3 kilograms. That's 42.55 pounds.
So this huge stash of gold only occupied about 7 liters. Even allowing for empty space between the coins and the gold bars, that's *still* a might small box, not several large chests.
Also, going with the value of gold, a couple years back (first per pound price I found with google). Gold was worth over $16,000 per pound. Using the exact figure from the quote, I about 61 and a third pounds of gold to make a million dollars.
I'll spare you the math, but that works out to less than 1.5 liters of gold.
From the info above, you can also get the idea that the proverbial "gold brick" (which in tales of greenhorns was usually an actual building brick painted gold) is going to weigh 40 or more pounds. If the guy trying to sell it to you is holding it in one hand and doesn't look like Arnold Scharzennegger, it's a fake. :-)
So, for writers, numbers matter. That huge fortune in gold (at least at current prices) is still going to weigh a lot, but isn't going to take up *nearly* the room you think it will. A footlocker full of gold is going to need heavy equipment to move.
Why? Because with really rough figures for the size, I get around 89 liters of volume. Which is around 1 and 3/4 metric tons.
I'll leave calculating the value as an exercise for the reader. :-)
What got me think on this most recently was a story where someone had managed to get the better of some Russian Mafia bosses, and got their stashes of gold.
Ok, he got things right in moving the stashes from the chests they were in to a number of suitcasres, at about 40 pounds per suitcase.
What he got wrong was having the chests be "full" of gold bars and krugerrands. and yout only amount around 300lbs.
Gold has a density of 19.3. That means that a given volume of gold weighs 19.3 times what the same volume of water would weigh. So, that means 1 liter of gold weighs 19.3 kilograms. That's 42.55 pounds.
So this huge stash of gold only occupied about 7 liters. Even allowing for empty space between the coins and the gold bars, that's *still* a might small box, not several large chests.
Also, going with the value of gold, a couple years back (first per pound price I found with google). Gold was worth over $16,000 per pound. Using the exact figure from the quote, I about 61 and a third pounds of gold to make a million dollars.
I'll spare you the math, but that works out to less than 1.5 liters of gold.
From the info above, you can also get the idea that the proverbial "gold brick" (which in tales of greenhorns was usually an actual building brick painted gold) is going to weigh 40 or more pounds. If the guy trying to sell it to you is holding it in one hand and doesn't look like Arnold Scharzennegger, it's a fake. :-)
So, for writers, numbers matter. That huge fortune in gold (at least at current prices) is still going to weigh a lot, but isn't going to take up *nearly* the room you think it will. A footlocker full of gold is going to need heavy equipment to move.
Why? Because with really rough figures for the size, I get around 89 liters of volume. Which is around 1 and 3/4 metric tons.
I'll leave calculating the value as an exercise for the reader. :-)