I made a mistake and Duncan caought and corrected it. I feel compelled to "grovel" and explain the error in detail below. You do not have to feel compelled to read it. If you prefer not to, just stop now.
Bill ================================ I wrote, incorrectly, that: >> Since 1 fl.oz. = 29.574 mL >> one ounce is (1/29.574) of a millilitre. That of course is incorrect. Instead, the fact that 1 fl. oz. = 29.574 mL means that 1 mL is (1/29.574) of an ounce. Because a fluid ounce equals 29.574 mL, the mass of a fluid ounce of mercury is equal to the mass of 29.574 mL of mercury. Thus my next statement (below) is also wrong. >> Thus the mass of one fl.oz. of Hg >> is 13.6 g / 29.574 which equals 0.460 g It should be: "Thus the mass of one fl.oz. of Hg is 29.574 mL TIMES 13.6 g, which equals 402.2 g", as Duncan correctly calculated. My whole discussion was a bit silly to start with. To have to explain a stupid error in something that was not important to start with is mortifying! My apologies. Bill Hooper
