Why did u.s treasury....?

Question

made a dime the smallest coin then it goes 10,1,5,25 order being smallest to largest?

serious answers please

Answer 1

Way back when the Coinage Act of 1792 was passed, the dime (or disme as it was then known) was sized to be 1/10th of the weight of the 'silver unit of dollar'.  From 1796 to 1837, dimes were composed of 89.24 percent silver and 10.76 percent copper, the value of which required the coins to be very small to prevent their intrinsic value being worth more than face value.  Even though silver was removed from the dime in 1965, the size remained the same.

Answer 2

It has to do with what the coin is made of.