On Jan 27, 6:13*pm, Jim Stewart wrote:
...

1% metal film chip resistors are a miracle of the
modern world. *What else in the world costs 3 for
a penny and has 1% accuracy?

Coins themselves are very accurate in weight:
http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint...specifications

IIRC I found a variation among unworn nickels of less than +- 5
milliGrams. There is never a weighing scale in an electronics lab, but
I could weigh small parts within a few percent with nickels and a
ruler balanced on a round pencil. I did it to figure out specific
gravity to identify materials such as small hardware, which is
difficult to guess if it's too small to feel the weight or thermal
conductivity.

jsw