BSA Block Weight

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rcmoeur
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BSA Block Weight

Post by rcmoeur »

(I did multiple searches to see if this topic had been created yet, and couldn't find anything. Apologies if it's a duplicate).

I volunteered to purchase the Pinewood Derby kits for our Pack from the Scout Store, and I figured that since I had 54 unopened boxes (all copyright dated 2012), I'd run a bit of an impromptu weight analysis. I already knew that everything but the block (box, instructions, stickers, axles, wheels, packaging glue) reasonably consistently weighed 38 grams, so I weighed each box and tallied the results in a spreadsheet.

Results:
Lightest box: 123 grams, which equates to a 85 g (3.00 oz) block. I opened this box and discovered the block had cracked - it'll be used as a teaching aid in the future. The next-lightest box was 130 g, which equates to a 3.25 oz block.
Heaviest box: 171 grams, which equates to a 133 g (4.69 oz) block. I opened this box and saw (unsurprisingly) that the block was very firm and dense-grained. Needless to say, some wood would have to be removed to hit the 5 ounce limit without any added weighting. 4 out of 54 boxes (7.4%) were above 165 g (4.5 - 4.7 oz blocks).
Average weight: 145.2 g (box), 107.2 g (block) - about 3.78 ounces for an average block.
Mode: The most frequent (n=5) were 135 g boxes / 97 g (3.42 oz) blocks - on the light side of average.
Standard Deviation: 10.67 g, 0.38 oz.

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knotthed
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Re: BSA Block Weight

Post by knotthed »

Back in the early days when we used to sort boxes, I used the opportunity to explain a bell curve to my son. We stacked them up showing the distribution. I will have to see if I can find a picture.
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Noskills
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Re: BSA Block Weight

Post by Noskills »

Rcmoeur thanks for the data.
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FatSebastian
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Re: BSA Block Weight

Post by FatSebastian »

rcmoeur wrote:(I did multiple searches ... and couldn't find anything.).
FWIW, here is a similar topic.
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