There are approximately 330,000,000 cubic miles of water on Earth. A cubic mile is approximately 147,200,000,000 cubic feet. How much water is on Earth? Estimate using scientific n... There are approximately 330,000,000 cubic miles of water on Earth. A cubic mile is approximately 147,200,000,000 cubic feet. How much water is on Earth? Estimate using scientific notation.
Understand the Problem
The question is asking how much water is on Earth, given that there are approximately 330 million cubic miles of water and a cubic mile converts to a specific number of cubic feet. It requires estimating the total volume of water in scientific notation.
Answer
$5 \times 10^{19} \text{ ft}^3$
Answer for screen readers
The total amount of water on Earth is approximately $5 \times 10^{19} \text{ ft}^3$.
Steps to Solve
- Convert Cubic Miles to Cubic Feet
To find the total volume of water in cubic feet, we first need to convert cubic miles to cubic feet.
Given:
- 1 cubic mile = 147,200,000,000 cubic feet
We start with: $$ 330,000,000 \text{ cubic miles} $$
Now we convert: $$ 330,000,000 \text{ cubic miles} \times 147,200,000,000 \text{ cubic feet per cubic mile} $$
- Calculate the Total Volume
Now let's calculate: $$ 330,000,000 \times 147,200,000,000 = 48,576,000,000,000,000,000 \text{ cubic feet} $$
- Convert the Result to Scientific Notation
Next, we convert $48,576,000,000,000,000,000$ into scientific notation. We write it as: $$ 4.8576 \times 10^{19} \text{ cubic feet} $$
We can round this to $5 \times 10^{19} \text{ cubic feet}$.
- Choose the Closest Option
The options provided are:
- $5 \times 10^{17} \text{ ft}^3$
- $5 \times 10^{18} \text{ ft}^3$
- $5 \times 10^{19} \text{ ft}^3$
- $5 \times 10^{88} \text{ ft}^3$
Thus, the closest option is: $$ 5 \times 10^{19} \text{ ft}^3 $$
The total amount of water on Earth is approximately $5 \times 10^{19} \text{ ft}^3$.
More Information
The volume of water on Earth is a massive figure, highlighting how abundant water is in our planet's oceans, lakes, and rivers. Cubic miles is a significantly large unit, and the conversion to cubic feet illustrates just how vast the total volume is.
Tips
- Forgetting to use the correct conversion factor (cubics feet per cubic mile).
- Not converting to scientific notation correctly, leading to a misinterpretation of large numbers.
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