Math help? Tons to gallons

[avidity]

OK, so let's say hypothetically we want to buy 1 ton of barley grain and store it in 30 gallon barrels. How many barrels do we need?

Nobody in our household can agree on the answer.

 

[black_cat]

You'd need two barrels, because one ton is 31.755 gallons.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

Well a ton is 2000 pounds. That’s a lot of barley. I have no clue how much barley weighs or how much can be squished into a one gallon space. But... a lot.

 

[avidity]

We figure we can fit three/four 40lb bags of chicken feed in a 30 gallon barrel. (We've never actually filled a barrel with more than two bags of feed.) So I figure that's 120-160 lbs per barrel, therefore we'd need around 12-16 barrels for 1 ton. Assuming barley grain has the same surface area as layer pellets.

Nobody agrees with me. This can't be as complicated as we're making it haha!

 

[Acre4Me]

Ton= weight
Gallon = volume

so, this relationship varies a bit on the item in question. Do you know a weight to volume for the barley?

 

[avidity]

Ton= weight
Gallon = volume

so, this relationship varies a bit on the item in question. Do you know a weight to volume for the barley?

You see the problem! No, sadly, no idea what the weight to volume could be.

It's sold by the ton in "sacks," each of which can fit in a pickup truck. I'm guestimating each sack is... maaaybe 4'x4'x4'? ...Ish? ...Which strikes me as a number that would be useful if I could figure out how to use it. And if my guestimation isn't wildly incorrect.

If only I'd paid more attention in math, alas.

 

[Acre4Me]

You see the problem! No, sadly, no idea what the weight to volume could be.

It's sold by the ton in "sacks," each of which can fit in a pickup truck. I'm guestimating each sack is... maaaybe 4'x4'x4'? ...Ish? ...Which strikes me as a number that would be useful if I could figure out how to use it. And if my guestimation isn't wildly incorrect.

If only I'd paid more attention in math, alas.

Can you call to find out the size of a full sack? It would still be an estimate, but it would help you on your way to figuring it out. Also, a storage or processing place that deals in barley will (or should) be able to tell you a volume to weight measurement. B

 

[avidity]

I can't believe we didn't think of that. Definitely worth a try! Dude, thanks!

 

[casportpony]

If you are guided by simple math, then you will need two barrels.

I think one will need way more than two 30 gallon barrels to hold 2000 pounds of anything.

 

[CarpCharacin]

I think one will need way more than two 30 gallon barrels to hold 2000 pounds of anything.

Not if it's very dense. I think 30 gallons could hold over 5,000 lbs of osmium, but barley obviously isn't that dense.