The ancient Romans believed that "divine will" would express the truly desirable outcome of a flipped coin. Today, flipping a coin is simply a compromise in which both parties have a chance to get what they want. This evolution of methods clearly shows that we, humans, have become sophisticated! No longer is a duel to the death required to resolve a conflict. Now, we can simply flip a coin! Anyone ever thought of doing this for the presidential election? It would save a LOT of money, time, and TV channels.
While planning our recreation time for Thanksgiving, we decided to watch a movie. Our votes were essentially down-the-line divided in half for 2012 or An Education. Since I could not decide right off the bat which movie I preferred, I took out my trusty coin. Unfortunately, sophistication does not guarantee infallibility; in trying to become enlightened of God's will, I ended up flipping it into the cup of water I was drinking.
I noticed immediately that the quarter sank to the bottom of the cup. Of course! Nickel and Copper are both more dense than water; objects will only float if they are less dense than water. Consider cooking oil, which generally has a density of 0.91 g/mL or so (source: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/IngaDorfman.shtml).
The coin I was using consists of 91.67% Copper and 8.33% Nickel (source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_(United_States_coin)). Its mass was about 7.5 grams, and its volume was about .625 mL. Thus, the density of a quarter, mass divided by volume, is about 12 g/mL.
The density of water, of course, is 1 g/mL.
Last Wednesday, we ended up seeing 2012. That's right folks. Divine Will indicated that it was the superior, more sophisticated choice.
Good movie I guess, especially the special effects, though the lack of an attractive female lead was really, really noticeable.
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