What Does The Rock Weigh

Asking how much a stone weighs is an interesting question considering the answer is, of form, going to depend entirely on the specific rock y'all're request well-nigh. I wanted to write this commodity to requite a definitive answer to a question that is more than complicated than information technology might seem on the surface. If you're curious about how much a rock weighs – regardless of the size or type of rock y'all're wondering about – you lot've come to the right place.

On average, a cubic pes of rock weighs 165.2 pounds, but depending on the type of rock it may weigh between 143.half dozen and 186.0 pounds. A rock's weight is determined past its density and volume. An approximation of any rock'south weight can be calculated using simple volumetric formulas.

Rock Weight By Size

If you're trying to become an estimate weight for a rock of a particular size, I've taken intendance of that work for you here. I went out and institute rocks of a agglomeration of common sizes and weighed them for you (with the exception of very big sizes), and measured their diameters so that you can make more direct comparisons to the type of rock yous're wondering about.

Go on in mind that the exact weight of your rock volition certainly vary a bit compared to the rocks I weighed, only you should be able to get a very good idea by comparison them to this chart and the pictures below. The exact weight of a rock volition depend on its size and density. I take included pictures of each of the rocks I weighed for reference.

Rock Size	Bore	Weight (Imperial)	Weight (Metric)
Pebble	.5 in	.035 ounces	i grand
Landscaping Rock	1.25 in	1.41 ounces	40 g
Skipping Stone	one.6 in	i.41 ounces	40 g
Cobble	4.5 in	2.six pounds	i.2 kg
Basketball sized	9.5 in	42 pounds	xix kg
Yoga ball sized	~26 in	~920 pounds	~418 kg
Auto sized	~10 ft	~86,500 pounds	~39,271 kg
Bag of Landscaping Rocks	—	l pounds	22.7 kg
Pallet of Landscaping Rocks (50 bags)	—	2,500 pounds	one,136 kg

Rock Weight By Size

Pebble

After measuring several pebbles of different sizes, I determined that the average weight of a pebble is almost i gram (.035 ounces). The weights of the pebbles ranged from .1 grams to 3 grams (.0035 ounces to .106 ounces). Anything larger than that I wouldn't personally call a pebble anymore. See the pictures below for reference.

Landscaping Rocks

I went outside to the landscaped area of my one thousand and selected a representative rock. I laid these marble flake rocks myself a few years ago so I good a skilful sense of how much they counterbalance when bagged upwardly and in a wheelbarrow! A landscaping stone weighs about xl grams, or i.4 ounces. In that location are many different sizes and types of landscaping rocks, of course, simply yous tin see the images below for reference.

Skipping Rock

Obviously at that place is quite a bit of variation in the size of skipping stones, but I plant what I would consider to exist an average sized rock that I'd use for skipping and weighed it on my nutrient calibration. A skipping stone weighs about weighs about twoscore grams, or one.4 ounces.

A skipping stone on a scale showing tha tit weights 38 grams — A typical skipping stone weighs most 40 chiliad

Cobble

Now we're getting into some decent sized rocks. The stone I chose is well-nigh the size you'd run across used in a cobble street. It's a fleck bigger than my airtight fist. This size stone is about the biggest sized rock I'd throw – annihilation larger than this would be impractical. A cobble sized rock weighs well-nigh 2.half-dozen pounds, or i.2 kgs.

Basketball Sized Rock

I had to modify scales to measure this rock. Just about anyone can carry a rock this size, but it will start getting heavy for some people. I took a trip out to my parents' identify to choose between a agglomeration of large landscaping rocks and tried to observe the one that looked closest to basketball-sized. A basketball-sized rock weighs nearly 42 pounds, or 19 kgs.

Yoga Ball Sized Rock

At this point, the rocks became as well large to behave or weigh on a scale, then I had to switch to some mathematical calculations and approximations instead. A yoga brawl is about 26 inches in diameter, and then using an average stone density of 165 pounds per cubic pes I calculate that a yoga ball-sized stone weights about 920 pounds, or 418 kg.

Machine Sized Rock

We're getting into some rough estimates hither, but I wanted to calculate a good approximation for a very large boulder. I decided on a stone that is roughly the size of a car. Assuming a diameter of 10 feet and an average density of 165 pounds per cubic foot, a car-sized bedrock weights about 86,500 pounds, or 39,271 kg.

Numberless of Landscaping Rocks

I happened to have a few actress bags of landscaping rocks laying around from a previous abode improvement project, and so I decided to weigh those and add them to the listing. A bag of landscaping rocks weighs 50 pounds. One of these bags is easily moved by someone in reasonable shape, but speaking from personal feel it can quickly get exhausting if y'all're moving a lot of bags.

A pallet of landscaping rocks normally contains most 50 numberless, which comes out to 2,500 pounds. I loaded upwards every nook and cranny of my mid-sized SUV with about that many bags from a home improvement shop and information technology was definitely struggling. Note that these weights will likely alter significantly if the bags accept been rained on and retained any moisture.

Stone Weight by Blazon

If you're wondering how much a specific type of stone weighs, please see the table below. It volition embrace the most mutual stone types, and if you can't find exactly what you're looking for so chances are in that location is a very close substitute listed.

For the purposes of this table, I used a theoretical cubic rock that measures i foot in each management. I list the average densities of each rock type in g/cmⁱⁱⁱ because that is the almost commonly used unit for this measurement. Note that the listed densities are what is referred to as bulk density, which is the mass of the rock per unit of measurement of majority volume including the pore space. This is in dissimilarity to particle density which does not include pore infinite.

Rock Type	Size	Density (g/cm³)	Weight (lbs)	Weight (kg)
Sandstone	1 ft³	ii.30	143.6	65.two
Limestone	1 ft³	2.seventy	168.six	76.5
Shale	ane ft³	2.35	146.7	66.6
Dolomite	1 ft³	2.60	162.6	73.8
Granite	i ft³	2.63	164.one	74.five
Marble	1 ft³	two.71	169.ane	76.eight
Basalt	1 ft³	2.90	181.0	82.two
Quartzite	ane ft^three	2.65	165.4	75.1
Gabbro	one ft³	two.98	186.0	84.4

Weight of 1 Cubic Foot of Stone Past Blazon (Densities Source)

Co-ordinate to these calculations, a cubic pes of rock weighs, on average, 165.2 pounds. Depending on the type of rock it may counterbalance between 143.6 and 186.0 pounds. Unusually lite or heavy rocks may fall outside of this range.

Weights of Famous Rocks & Lifting Stones

Information technology may come as a surprise to many people, but there are many famous rocks that people bask lifting because of their history and the challenge they present. People from all over the world travel to countries similar Scotland and Iceland to lift these famous lifting stones.

I myself made it a indicate to seek out a lifting rock while on a contempo trip to Scotland. I'm a competitive powerlifter, so it offered a unique opportunity to combine ii passions of mine – rocks, and lifting heavy things!

Me, after successfully lifting the Puterach stone! (230 pounds) — Me, later successfully lifting the Puterach stone! (230 pounds)

Below is a table that lists some of the most famous lifting stones in the world and how much they weigh. Each one of these rocks has a unique history behind information technology. If this is something that interests yous I'd highly recommend this documentary on YouTube that goes into the history of lifting stones in Scotland.

Rock Name	Weight (lbs)	Weight (kg)	Location
Dinnie Stones	733	332	Potarch, Scotland
Inver Stone	260	118	Inver, Scotland
Barevan Stone	231	105	Cawdor, Scotland
Newtonmore Stone	240	109	Newtonmore, Scotland
Dalwhinnie Stone	224	102	Dalwhinnie, Scotland
Fianna Stone	300	136	Glen Lyon, Scotland
Chieftain'due south Stone	250	113	Castle Menzies, Scotland
Ardvorlich Stone	334	152	Ardvorlich, Scotland
Puterach Stone	230	105	Glen Balquidder, Scotland
Dripping Cave Stone	286	130	Cromarty, Scotland
Húsafell Stone	409	186	Húsafell, Iceland
Leggstein	484	220	Heydalur, Iceland
Judas Stone	280	127	Látrabjarg, Iceland

Weights and Locations of Famous Lifting Stones

How To Summate & Approximate The Weight of Rocks

Simply in case the measurements and tables I listed above didn't cut it for you lot, at present I'll get into how to measure and approximate the weight of whatever stone you're wondering about. With just i or ii simple measurements, by following these instructions you'll be able to calculate how much your rock weights with a fair degree of accuracy.

Of form, the easiest and most reliable way to notice out how much a rock weighs is to put it on a calibration (or behave it on to a scale with yous). Unfortunately, that's not always an choice because you lot might not take a scale available or the rock may simply be as well large.

The weight of whatsoever rock depends on two things: density and volume. If y'all tin can measure or judge these two values then you can easily calculate a skillful approximation of how much a stone weighs.

Determine rock type and density
Measure out the stone'southward dimensions
Summate the weight of the stone

Determine Stone Type and Density

The first thing you'll demand to calculate the weight of a rock is its density. Luckily for the states, people take devoted their unabridged careers to studying rocks (myself included) and determining their physical properties – including density.

If yous know what kind of rock you're dealing with then all y'all need to exercise is consult a table like the one I created before in the article that tells you the density of that type of rock. If you don't know what type of rock information technology is, y'all can apply an approximation of two.seven thousand/cm^three.

Measure the Stone'southward Dimensions

The side by side thing you'll need to do is mensurate the dimensions of your stone in order to calculate the volume. The measurements you'll need and the formula you utilise will depend on the approximate shape of your rock. Recall that near density measurements you'll detect for rocks will be listed in thou/cm³, and so I'd recommend making your measurements in centimeters.

If your rock is roughly spherical in shape and then yous'll simply need to measure out the circumference. If information technology's a piffling oblong or irregular, only find a cross-department that looks representative of the size of the rock and measure at that point. So use the formula V=C³/(6π²)

If your rock is more rectangular or cube-shaped then just measure its approximate height, width, and length and multiply them together. If yous've forgotten your geometry lessons, use the formula V=h*w*l.

If you can't directly measure the rock in question (maybe y'all're only wondering about a large rock in the altitude) and so try to brand a rough approximation by only eyeballing information technology. Employ the same formulas I listed to a higher place to become a crude estimate of the rock's volume.

Calculate the Weight of the Rock

Y'all now have everything y'all need to summate the weight of your stone. Since you have proficient measurements or approximations of the density and book of the rock, the calculation for weight is simply:

Weight = Density*Book

If y'all performed all of these calculations in cubic centimeters and grams, then the outcome of this calculation volition be in grams. To convert grams to pounds, just multiple your result past .0022 and you're all washed!