Antarctica is roughly semicircular, with a radius of 2000km. The average thickness of its ice cover is 3000m. How many cubic cm of ice does Antarctica contain? (Ignore the curvature of Earth).
V = (1/2)*pi*r^2*(thickness)
r = 2*10^8 cm
thickness = 3*105 cm
The answer will be in cm^3 if you use these units.
To find the volume of ice in Antarctica, we can imagine it as a solid cylinder with a semi-circular base.
First, let's calculate the area of the semi-circular base. The formula for the area of a circle is A = πr², where r is the radius. However, since we are dealing with a semi-circle, we need to divide the result by 2.
So, the area of the semi-circular base would be A = (π * r²) / 2.
Given that the radius of Antarctica is 2000 km, we need to convert it to meters by multiplying by 1000 (1 km = 1000 m). Therefore, the radius is 2000 km * 1000 m/km = 2000000 m.
Let's calculate the area of the semi-circular base:
A = (π * 2000000²) / 2
Next, to find the volume of the ice cover, we multiply the area of the base by the average thickness of the ice cover.
Given that the average thickness of the ice cover is 3000 m, we multiply the area by the thickness:
Volume = A * thickness
Converting the thickness from meters to centimeters by multiplying by 100 (1 m = 100 cm):
Volume = (A * thickness) * 100
Finally, we need to convert the result to cubic centimeters, so we raise 100 to the power of 3 (1 cm³ = 100³ cm³):
Volume in cubic cm = (A * thickness) * 100^3
Let's calculate it.