[CH] Milagro Beanfield Compost

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In a message dated 3/00 2:27:14 PM Eastern Standard Time, cpd@world.std.com 
writes:

<< Is that 40 lb bag really 18" x 36" x 6" thick?  >>

Chuck and all,
It's 19x27x5+ or about 1.45 cu ft compacted, but it's composted manure and 
therefore pretty fluffy when poured over a 3' x 3' x 3" frame (as I did 
yesterday).  Dumped in the garden, and fluffed up, it rakes out at deeper 
than 3" over the square yard.  If I tromped on it before tilling it in, you'd 
be right on the money that it's volume is .75 cu ft short and it would 
measure under 2" deep per sq. yd.
I wonder what the specific gravity of a box of popcorn might be, or a fluffed 
up pillow (feather type), or a box of marshmallows...unless you compressed 
them first.  Seems to me you'd be averaging the solids with the specific 
gravity of air.  One of the reasons for tossing compost (or peat moss) is to 
increase its volume (add air) which, of course, helps to improve the tilth of 
the soil, but doesn't do a thing to increase its weight.  Part of the point 
of tilling soil is to overcome compaction or reduce density, in other words 
to manipulate the volume upwards by adding air.  Somewhat like making a 
frappe, or beating air into a milkshake.
DENSITY
ratio of the MASS of a substance to its volume. Because many substances can 
be compressed into a smaller volume by increasing the pressure on them, the 
temperature and pressure at which the density is measured are usually 
specified. 
SPECIFIC GRAVITY
the ratio of the WEIGHT of a given volume of a substance to the weight of an 
equal volume of a reference substance, usually water. 
Gareth the empirical compost raking ChileKnight

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