Buying gold at the equator and selling it at the North Pole makes no profit
#0020 Money & systems
Fact rank
C
Rating of the claim that it makes a profit. The regulation of trade scales and their adjustment to the place of use are confirmed by primary sources (local government, the law, a weights-and-measures office), but the "profit from gold" idea itself is sourced only from a forum (tertiary)
Wow rank
S
The tempting idea of profiting from gravity, and the catch
Usefulness
—
A fact worth knowing for its own sake
Verification: Contradicted by evidence
AI verification reports the evidence it found; it does not guarantee that a claim is true.
The idea that you can profit by buying gold where gravity is weak, at the equator, and selling it where gravity is strong, at the North Pole, does not work.
Why
Trade is by mass, and scales used in trade are verified and adjusted to the gravity where they are used, so reweighing shows no difference.Evidence
Primary Notice from Takamatsu City. Scales used for trade (selling food by weight, buying precious metals) or certification are regulated by the Measurement Act link
Primary Measurement Act (e-Gov law database). Article 16: a specified measuring instrument without a verification mark may not be used, or held for use, for measurement in trade or certification link
Primary Notice from the Tokyo weights-and-measures office. Scales have a designated area of use and may be used if the local gravitational acceleration is within the marked range link
Tertiary Physics forum (2013). To the question whether you could make money buying gold at one altitude and selling it at another, the answer is that with a balance the counterweights get lighter by the same amount, so there is no difference link
Notes and limits
If you carried a spring scale with you, you would see a difference of about 0.5% between the equator and the North Pole (#0012). But scales used in trade are adjusted to local gravity (#0018), and an unadjusted scale may not be used in trade. Shipping the gold would cost far more anyway.
Derivations
Derived from: 体重計の数字は緯度が高いほど大きく出る
Derived facts: —