How Many Thimbles Would It Take To Empty the Atlantic Ocean?

Authors: Max, Deepu, Zac, Zoe, Carsten, Chad

Interpretations

Chad

I interpret the question as taking a thimble fulls of water would it take to empty all the water in the Atlantic Ocean with all the rivers and other oceans blocked off.

Max

interpreted as Atlantic ocean blocked off completely from sources( including rain and precipitation) and then blast the water off the planet so it can’t get back in. then remove all ocean animals. after this remove nuclear subs, (and every other kind). boats also have to be removed because of displacement

Deepu

Here’s something to think about: Imagine if you physically emptied the Atlantic Ocean. As you emptied it, the water from other oceans would drain into the Atlantic. In order to empty the Atlantic Ocean, you would need to empty a lot more than just the Atlantic.

Zac

The ocean is completely blocked off from rivers and it how many thimbles to empty the ocean.

Zoe

My interpretation is that the Atlantic Ocean has a huge dome over it, that blocks everything other than the river, remove all the animals, and how many thimbles it would take to empty it.

Carsten

I interpreted this as the volume of the Atlantic ocean at any given time. I think we should disregard rust dripping and other problems.

Final Interpretation

ngdc.noaa.gov definition of volume of the north and south Atlantic.

Guesses of the answer

Chad

My guess is 600,000,000,000,000.

Carsten

I think 50,000,000,000,000,000

Zac

My guess is 500,000,000,000,000

Deepu

I think it would take 77,500,000,000,000,000 thimble-fulls to empty the Atlantic Ocean.

Zoe

I think it will take about 4 billion thimbles. I have NO idea. I’m just guessing.

Intelligent guesses

Zac

It might take 54,653,226,666.666...gallons divided by the thimbles per gallon 1,152=62,960,517,119,923.2 Different numbers 54,653,226,666.6661152=98,485,324,195,507,200,000,000 thimbles

Chad

According to Max’s ocean volume and that there are gallons in a cubic mile. There are 1,268,486,956,800,000 thimbles.

Max

According to wiki ocean volume is 77,640,000 cu. mi. this is 54,653,226,666.6 gallons. divide by a rounded thimble count of 1,1152152 per gallon. this is 62,960,517,119,923.

Carsten

I think 50,000,000,000,000,000.

Materials needed

Zac

Thimbles and water.

Max

100 different thimbles to average. maybe a globe. about 1 trillion tons of concrete, 25 trillion panels of 2’x2’x1/8” carbon fiber. a launch system to eradicate the water you scooped from this planet. then large concrete pumping barges and floating tow-able factories that assembles the carbon fiber pieces into panels and install them. we will then need to rob Fort Knox to pay the laborers. then a fleet of walling boats to eradicate the whales. we will need a navy to destroy the subs and boats. the navy will later be transferred to the pacific along with whaling boats. we could also rob the IRS or the Swiss banking system. if we are doing it our-selves, then we will need about 1,000 years

Max

We could use nanotechnology and have self building dams. they could be reinforced with carbon nanotubes.

Zoe

We will need a thimble, some concrete, and the ocean. I think we need to go from door to door pretending we’re taxmen and take the people’s money to pay the sailors, navy, and laborers. Or we should mine the moon. Or maybe we should start World War III, and then raid a prison camp for laborers. Or train monkeys. Or hire some Egyptians to build the walls. They’re used to work.

Procedure / Plans of Attack

Zoe

I think, since there are 546532266666 ..... gallons in the ocean, we need to figure out how many thimbles fit in a gallon, and then we will know.

Carsten

I calculated that their where 1152 thimbles in a gallon(T) and 54,653,226,666 gallons in the Atlantic(G) is equal to thimbles that it would take to empty the Atlantic (X). So (T*G=X)

Zac

G(gallons)T(thimbles)=S (answer)

Zoe

You have to know how many gallons are in the ocean, and how many thimbles are in a gallon. T= The number of thimbles in a gallon,G= the number of gallons in the Atlantic ocean. If we do ZQ, then we would find the answer.

Deepu

First, we need to translate the volume of the Atlantic ocean into gallons. There are 264,172,052,000 gallons in a cubic kilometer. The volume of the Atlantic Ocean is 306,000,000 cubic kilometers. 264,172,052,000 x 306,000,000 = 80,836,647,912,000,000,000, which is the number of gallons in the ocean. Then, we need to multiply it my the number of thimbles in a gallon. There are 32 half-cups in a gallon, and 36 thimbles fit in a half-cup. 36 x 32 = 1152, so 1152 thimbles would fill a gallon. To find the answer, multiply 1152 by the number of gallons in the ocean (80,836,647,912,000,000,000), which is 93,123,818,394,624,000,000,000.

Chad

We need to figure out how many gallons are in a cubic kilometer and then multiply that number by the amount of cubic kilometers in the Atlantic Ocean. After that we multiply the previously found number by how many thimbles in a gallon.

What We Actually did

We started with finding how many thimbles in a gallon. We took a medium sized thimble and filled a 1/2 cup with 36 thimbles full and multiplied it by the number....

Our thrilling conclusions

Chad

My answer is 93,123,818,394,624,000,000,000 thimbles of water to empty the Atlantic Ocean.

Zoe

I figured out that the volume of the ocean in cubic kilometers was 306,000,000, and then that there were 264172052000 gallons in a cubic kilometer, so those two numbers multiplied were 93636000000000000. WOW. Okay, so then I needed to multiply that by the number of thimbles in a gallon, which was 1152. So, the number of thimbles in the Atlantic ocean is 93,123,818,394,624,000,000,000.

Max

My answer was obtained by converting kilometers to miles and then to cubic feet, then to gallons, divided this by the amount of thimbles to empty a gallon, and ended out with thimbles. Equation: (volume of ocean)/(volume of thumbles).

Zac

My answer is 93,123,818,394,624,000,000,000 thimbles

Maximum and minimum acceptable answers

Max

Maximum acceptable answer 809,015,040,000,000,000,000 thimbles.

Max

Minimum acceptable answer 809,015,040,000,000,000,000 thimbles.

Zoe

Maximum: 93,123,818,394,624,000,000,001. Minimum: 93,123,818,394,624,000,000,099.

Deepu

We only used one thimble for this experiment. The answer to this problem depends on the size of the thimble you use. I would be willing to accept any answer between 9.31 × 10^22 and 9.32 × 10^22.

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