A quick recap - this game provides mass and volume data on objects. The numbers provided for fruit aren't too bad (for a given value of bad...), so I'll trust their numbers to compute the density of a cannonball. With that, I can make an educated guess as to the metal used to make one!
And yes, I do consider that to be science.
There are three types of cannonballs in the game (small, medium and large), but we can quickly rule out different alloys when we see that mass has a linear relationship to volume.
- Small Cannonball: 7.1 kg, 1 liter
- Medium Cannonball: 14.2 kg, 2 liters
- Large Cannonball: 21.3 kg, 3 liters
after converting liters into cubic meters, we get the following density for our metal:
7.1 kg/1 liter = 7100 kg/1 cubic meter = 7100 kg/cubic meter
And what metals have a density of 7100 kg/cubic meter? A quick jaunt around the internet provides several tempting answers:
- Zinc: 7135
- Cast Iron: 6800-7800
- White Metal: 7100
Hrmmmm.... that last one seems like a winner. Let's see what wikipedia has to say on it:
| "The white metals are any of several light-colored alloys used as a base for plated silverware, ornaments or novelties, as well as any of several lead-base or tin-base alloys used for things like bearings, jewellery, miniature figures, fusible plugs, some medals and metal type." |
Reasonable, but a more thorough look around the web brings up more support for cast iron cannonballs than for white metal ones. And, since cast iron brackets our point quite nicely, I'm willing to call this myth "plausible".... rather, I'll side with Puzzle Pirates using somewhat historically accurate data when it developed the physics engine used in the game.