How Heavy Were Gold Plates, Anyway?

Paramount in the story of the Latter-day Saints is the account given by Joseph Smith of a visitation he received from the angel Moroni on September 21, 1823. He stated that after he retired to bed, his room became filled with light. At his bedside stood an angel who called Smith by name and told him that God had a work for the young boy to do. Smith claimed to have been told how, "there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang" (Joseph Smith - History 1:34).

Smith claims that he was not allowed to retrieve the buried plates for another four years. In verse 54 of his testimony, he related that the day he was allowed to dig up the record came on September 22, 1827. Mormon historian Leonard Arrington notes that, "Sometime after midnight in the early morning hours of September 22, Joseph and Emma drove to the hill, obtained the plates and hid them in an old birch log about three miles from the Smith home. With neighboring ruffians seeking the plates, thinking they were of great monetary worth, Joseph changed the hiding place several times and managed to keep them from being discovered and stolen" (Mormonism: From Its New York Beginnings, Dialogue, Vol.13, No.3, p.122). Eventually Joseph Smith would bring the plates home to be translated. His mother, Lucy Mack Smith, remembered the day this way:

"The plates were secreted about three miles from home... Joseph, on coming to them, took them from their secret place, and, wrapping them in his linen frock, placed them under his arm and started for home.

After proceeding a short distance, he thought it would be more safe to leave the road and go through the woods. Traveling some distance after he left the road, he came to a large windfall, and as he was jumping over a log, a man sprang up from behind it, and gave him a heavy blow with a gun. Joseph turned around and knocked him down, then ran at the top of his speed. About half a mile further he was attacked again in the same manner as before; he knocked this man down in like manner as the former, and ran on again; and before he reached home he was assaulted the third time. In striking the last one he dislocated his thumb, which, however, he did not notice until he came within sight of the house, when he threw himself down in the corner of the fence in order to recover his breath. As soon as he was able, he arose and came to the house. lie was still altogether speechless from fright and the fatigue of running" (History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lucy Smith, pp.107-108).

Smith stated, "These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of gold, each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engravings, in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume as the leaves of a book, with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed" (History of the Church 4:537)

Numerous LDS leaders and historians have concurred with Smith's description. As to the size and thickness of the plates there seems to be no dispute.

Paintings of Smith show him receiving the plates with outstretched arms or resting on his knee. Although these are just an artist's perception, these descriptions do cause us to ask, "If they really existed, just how heavy would those plates have been given the size and description by Smith?"

The answer to this question is varied. We do know that gold weighs about 1200 pounds per cubic foot. Given the dimensions by Smith, some have concluded that the plates could have weighed as much as 234 pounds to as little as 100 pounds. The heavier weight is based on what would probably be the total weight of a solid block of gold measuring the size of Smith's plates. This weight would tend to be unlikely given the fact that engravings on a thin plate of soft metal such as gold would probably not lay perfectly flat. If such indentions did tend to cause the plate to "bulge," it would also seem likely that the engravings would have been difficult to read.

Mormon metallurgist Reed Putnam estimates that if the plates were made of pure gold, they would have probably weighed around 100 pounds. In perspective, that would be like carrying a bag of Portland cement under one's arm.

The possibility of the plates being too heavy for Smith to carry has not escaped the notice of LDS apologists. To credit their founder with the ability to carry such a weight while running at "the top of his speed" would seem to conclude that Smith had no idea how heavy gold really was, thus making it appear that he fabricated this story.

Researchers for the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) have attempted to come to Smith's rescue. In a bulletin cover (number F-15) they provide an explanation for this anomaly. Entitled "Where the Gold Plates Gold?" it theorized that the plates were not made of pure gold at all. Rather, they theorize, that they were composed of an alloy called tumbaga. This Central American alloy, the article states, is made up of 8K gold and copper. In other words, the plates would have been primarily composed of 66% copper and only 33% gold.

The article debunks the notion that the plates could have been made of pure gold since "pure gold would be too soft to make useful plates." However, this argument overlooks Mosiah 8:9 in the Book of Mormon that mentions 24 Jaredite plates that were "filled with engravings, and they are of pure gold."

This argument also fails to take into account a photograph in earlier editions of the Book of Mormon that showed a "gold tablet found in Persia in 1961, dating to the time of Darius II (Fourth century B.C.), covered with cuneiform engravings." The caption went on to say, "This tablet is about the size of the gold plates of the Book of Mormon." In his book entitled An Approach to the Book of Mormon, Dr. Hugh Nibley also mentioned this parallel as evidence to the fact that Smith had plates of gold. If the plates deposited by Moroni were really an alloy made primarily of copper, why go to such lengths?

The FARMS' article supports the tumbaga theory by referring to William Smith, Joseph's brother, who was quoted in the Saints Herald (31, 1884, p. 644) as stating that the plates were a mixture of gold and copper. One can only imagine how William arrived at such a conclusion since there is no evidence to suggest that the plates were ever analyzed. Making William's statement even less credible is the fact that he admitted to having never seen the plates. He claimed, "I was permitted to lift them as they laid in a pillow-case; but not to see them, as was contrary to the commands he had received. They weighed about sixty pounds according to the best of my judgment" (A New Witness for Christ in America 2:417). FARMS insists that tumbaga plates would have weighed only about 53 pounds. In other words, it would be like carrying a sack of redi-mix concrete.

Despite the effort from FARMS to change LDS history, it appears that the tumbaga theory is not being taken too seriously. As recently as May 15, 1999, the LDS Church News ran an article entitled "Hands-on opportunity." Speaking of Joseph Smith, it read, "He had also been instructed by an angel, Moroni, who had met with him each year for four years. On his last visit, he was entrusted with plates of solid gold, which he had been translating by the power of the Spirit."

My thoughts:

I have once seen a physical representation of what the Book of Mormon plates would have looked like. It was during a showing of some Dead Sea Scrolls, and it was held at a Mormon Visitor's Center. I doubt very much that such a thing could have existed in reality, based on what I know NOW.

Gold is heavy. The more there is, the heavier it is. And I DON'T believe that Joseph Smith put a 100 pound book of solid gold in a bag and RAN with it through the woods, jumping over a log and running at the top of his speed while being assaulted three different times. It's a lie. And I can go on believing it's a lie UNTIL IT'S PROVEN TRUE. Not the other way around.

Too often, members of the LDS church are challenged to believe such impossible theories and FPR's (faith promoting rumors) until it's proven false. And given that they are instructed to only gather their information from those who are worthy to impart it, with the proper spirit, it is unlikely that anything they are taught will ever be proven false in their world view.

I find it simply amazing that any story or version of events that is uttered by a General Authority is taken as truth immediately, without so much as a comparison of previous versions of events or previous editions of the story. They simply discount everything they heard that was different from what they are currently told. To check it against previous accounts is to question the "Lord's Annointed" and to hold yourself and your own intelligence in higher regard than those who you are supposed to be your teachers and Elders.

And how is this different than being a Moonie, or Branch Davidians, or Heaven's Gate? Each one of these cults had loyal followers that believed what they were taught, and took it for TRUTH until it was proven false. A thinking, reasoning person doesn't believe in something just simply because it is written in a book or testified as true by some charismatic leader. I certainly have learned not to believe everything I read or everything I'm told on TV. I use my intellect to reason and test my own beliefs and theories, and adopt those things I believe to be true, yet I also retain the knowledge that at any time, things I believe to be true COULD turn out to be false. And I'm okay with that. I have no desire to protect my beliefs from being changed. I welcome new thoughts in my head daily. I seek information, not only to bolster what I believe, but also things that do not agree with my current system. It's a delicate system of checks and balances that I have developed as a result of living such a 'one sided' existance, battling an unseen enemy. That enemy turned out to be nothing more than my own consciousness and sense of right and wrong.

I knew many times when I was receiving information that didn't make sense to me, and I forced it out of my mind, "put it on a shelf" and refused to deal with it for fear of losing my testimony. I thought I was combatting Satan everytime I had a stray doubt or considered the possibility that things just weren't right. Turns out the only battle I was fighting was against my own common sense. I didn't want to hear anything negative about my beliefs because it took so much time out of my life just to maintain them through scripture reading, preparing talks, making music plans for primary, attending conferences and temple sessions, going on Visiting Teaching tours, and the endless string of activities and responsibilities I kept up with. I was very busy maintaining my testimony and I literally did not take the time to think about problems with timelines, historical events, hidden truths kept tucked away because of their "un-usefulness" in keeping a testimony strong.

I once gave a talk about maintaining a testimony, and all the things that were required in doing so. While researching the topic and preparing the talk, I noticed how weird it was that the only thing I could come up with was staying away from things that cause doubts. While speaking it, I noticed how I sounded up at the pulpit, telling everyone that the only way to maintain a testimony is to "limit your reach" for knowledge. In effect, I told them to be content in their fishbowl, for that was the Lord's way of protecting you from being led out.

In a flash I remembered that this is exactly what we were taught was "Lucifer's" design in the pre-existence. We were taught that Lucifer would make sure all would be saved and not one soul lost, because there would be forced conformity, and 'limited reach'. To hear myself repeat this very same thing to the members of the ward gave me chills. I was not part of a "Christ-centered" organization after all. We had no freedom to develop our own beliefs. There was only one way to earn our salvation, and that was 'conform'.

When I finished the temple endowment session sitting in the Celestial Kingdom, I made a move to take my apron off, and was stopped by a patron, who told me to keep it on. I never questioned her, but I should have. Why did I need to keep a symbol of "Satan's priesthood" on in the Celestial Kingdom? I lost my power of self-authority that day, when earlier I had allowed a woman I had never met touch my naked body in areas to be 'washed' and 'annointed'. I was weak enough to allow that, and I didn't question this envasion of my privacy, nor did I take off that apron, even though I didn't agree that it should be worn during my sealing ceremony. Why was this necessary? I didn't want to wear it, but I conformed to the system because they required it, and I gave them authority.

I did have a testimony. It was protected and gleaned from information gathered from within. It was not special, it had no individual meaning, because it too, had conformed. It had all the standard ingredients, and was easily rehearsed and repeated. Nothing but sheer will maintained it, and the desire to conform was very strong. It meant I was one of the chosen, I would gain entrance to the Celestial Kingdom, and all I had to do was keep feeding it "milk", and look to the inside for all my answers.

Now, I have new information. My testimony is still here, only it has additional ingredients in it, it has individual meaning now. I testify that I know the truth about the LDS church. I will never go back to accepting "milk" before "meat" and being treated as a child hoping for some attention. I will not grovel to Bishops or Stake Presidents and ask to be found worthy to participate in temple rituals that only serve to bind members closer to the system. I will no longer be afraid of "Satan" because I know he only exists in the minds of those who fear change. He is a tool of the system, meant to instill fear into those who falter. I am no longer judged by those standards, and I am free to think on my own, use what I trust in and get my knowledge from everywhere. That is the true test of this life. I have freed myself from "limited reach". I can do anything I want now, and live life accepting that I don't know all the answers, and I don't have to accept limits in understanding the unknowns.