California Fine Wire CompanyFeet Per Pound FormulasCalifornia Fine Wire Company

This formula is to be used to calculate the feet per pound of a material when a chart is not available. The basis of this formula is that the density is known for this material and that a table for the feet per pound of another material is available. In this example a table for copper is available and the density of copper (8.96) is known.

The first step is to determine a factor, which has relationship between copper and the desired feet per pound of the sample.

 

Therefore:           Factor = Density of alloy desired ¸ Density of Copper


Or:                       F = DÀ¸DÁ,


Known:               Density of alloy desired = 9.65  Density of Copper = 8.96


Therefore:           F = 9.65 ¸ 8.96


                           F = 1.077


To determine the feet per pound of the desired alloy the following must be calculated.


                           The diameter is .002",


                           The feet per pound for copper is 84,530 (from table),


Formula:             Feet per pound of desired alloy = Feet per pound of Copper ¸ Factor.


Therefore:           Feet per pound of desired alloy = 84,530 ¸ 1.077.


Thus:                   Feet per pound of desired alloy = 78,486.


Note:                   To convert feet per pound to feet per gram,


                           78,486 ¸ 453.6 = 173.029 feet per gram at .002" for the alloy with a density of 9.65.


                           Now it is possible to calculate the footage if the gram weight of the material is known.


Example:            Material on hand weighs 2.35 grams,


Therefore:           2.35 g ´ 173.029 ft = 406.618 ft of material on hand.