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What a dollar is
A dollar is the unit the United States uses to count money. It is not a piece of silver anymore. It is a name for a unit of account.
A dollar is a unit of account.
It is how the United States counts prices, wages, and taxes. A one-dollar bill is one of those units on paper. A Gold Eagle with a $50 face value is fifty of those units as a legal label, and a much larger number of those units as metal.
It used to be a silver coin
The early US dollar was a silver coin meant to stand near the Spanish milled dollar. That history is real. America’s first silver dollars. It is not how a dollar works now.
It is not a weight
You cannot cash a dollar at a window for a set number of grains of silver. That link ended in steps. Silver certificates. 1971.
What a shop uses
Shops price metal in dollars because that is the unit on the board. The ounce is the thing. The dollar is the ruler. When the ruler stretches, the number of dollars per ounce goes up. Inflation. Spot.
More on the coin and money library.