[spotplay]

I just asked bing chat this question and it linked me to this very thread while also answering incorrectly in the end:

>This is a common riddle that may seem tricky at first. However, the answer is simple: two pounds of feathers are heavier than one pound of bricks. This is because weight is a measure of how much force gravity exerts on an object, and it does not depend on what the object is made of. A pound is a unit of weight, and it is equal to 16 ounces or 453.6 grams.

>So whether you have a pound of bricks or two pounds of feathers, they both still weigh one pound in total. However, the feathers would occupy a larger volume than the bricks because they are less dense. This is why it may seem like the feathers would weigh more, but in reality, they weigh the same as the bricks

[geysersam]

Interesting that it also misunderstood the common misunderstanding in the end.

It reports that people typically think a pound of feathers weighs more because it takes up a larger volume. But the typical misunderstanding is the opposite, that people assume feathers are lighter than bricks.

[mikewarot]

Tangent time:

A pound of feathers has a slightly higher mass than a pound of bricks, as the feathers are made of keratin, which has a slightly lower density, and thus displace more air which lowers the weight.

Even the Million Pound Deadweight Machine run by NIST has to take into account the air pressure and resultant buoyancy that results.[1]

[1] https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2013/03/large-mass-cal...

[komali2]

I'm more surprised that bing indexed this thread within 3 hours, I guess I shouldn't be though, I probably should have realized that search engine spiders are at a different level than they were 10 years ago.

[brabel]

I had a similar story: was trying to figure out how to embed a certain database into my codebase, so I asked the question on the project's GitHub... without an answer after one day, I asked Bing, and it linked to my own question on GH :D

[dx034]

Search indexes are pretty smart at indexing and I assume they have custom rules for all large sites, including HN.