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?Lightest full car load?

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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, April 3, 2016 5:07 PM

gregc
Or would the residual helium be extracted somehow, leaving a vacuum that is ready  for the next load of helium?    Would a tank car with a vacuum weight even less than helium?

I'm sure that the evacuated car would weigh less than the car with residual helium - helium does have weight.

Kinda goes back to the thing with feathers and vacuums - in a true vacuum, a feather will fall at the same rate as a brick.

As noted in the link I found, the difference in weight between a full and empty container is minimal - for the car shown I found a couple of guesstimates at 1600 and 1860 pounds of helium in a loaded car.

While looking for information on helium I ran across a comment that a scuba diving tank that is full will sink, while an empty one will float - the weight of the compressed air being the difference.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 3:52 PM

Tree,

I learned something - I did not know that about scuba tanks.

Bob

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 4:01 PM

BOB WITHORN
I did not know that about scuba tanks.

Neither did I...Wink

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by Goodtiming on Wednesday, April 6, 2016 6:48 PM

Many years ago while driving a tractor/trailer I had a 40' load of 4 big pieces of foam rubber; filled the box from floor to roof. Weight was under 200 lbs but it took up the whole Trailer.

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