Exxon Valdez dumped 10.8 million gallons of oil into the waters of Prince william sound. IF this spill had happened in open water, how many square miles of ocean would be covered by an oil slick that is 0.5mm thick? Is this enough to cover the city of Fort wayne (94 square miles)?
10.8 million gal=1.08x10^7 gal
(1.08x10^7 gal)(3.78 dm^3/gal) = 4.08x10^7 dm^3
0.5 mm /100 mm/dm = 0.005 dm
V = Ah, where h is the film thickness.
4.08x10^7 dm^3 = A(0.005 dm)
(A = area of spill)
A = 8.16x10^9 dm^2
1 m^2 = 100 dm^2
A = 8.16x10^7 m^2
1 mile^2 = (1609m)^2= 2.59x10^6 m^2
I will let you convert the area to square miles on your own.
To calculate the total area covered by an oil slick, you need to multiply the volume of the spilled oil by the conversion factor for the thickness of the slick. Here's how you can get the answer:
1. Convert gallons to cubic meters: The Exxon Valdez spilled 10.8 million gallons of oil. To convert that to cubic meters, you need to know that 1 gallon is approximately equal to 0.00378541 cubic meters. Multiply 10.8 million by 0.00378541 to get the volume of oil in cubic meters.
10.8 million gallons * 0.00378541 m³/gallon = X cubic meters
2. Convert the thickness to meters: The thickness given is 0.5mm. To convert that to meters, divide by 1000.
0.5mm / 1000 = Y meters
3. Calculate the area covered: The area covered by the slick is equal to the volume of the spilled oil divided by the thickness.
Area covered = X cubic meters / Y meters
4. Convert the area to square miles: To convert the area from square meters to square miles, you need to multiply by the conversion factor for square miles. 1 square mile is equal to approximately 2.59 square kilometers.
Area covered (in square miles) = (Area covered in square meters) * (1 square mile / 2.59 square kilometers)
Once you have the area covered, you can compare it to the city of Fort Wayne, which has an area of 94 square miles, to see if it would be covered.
I don't have the specific values to complete the calculations, but you can input the values into the equations to get the answer.