Yesterday I examined how much oil would need to be added to a 24 foot (4 feet deep) round swimming pool to equal the oil:water ratio in the Gulf of Mexico due to the BP oil spill. My conclusion was that I’d need to add 1/1,428,571 teaspoon of oil to the 11,895 gallon pool to equal that ratio, using the highest current estimate of oil leaked as of yesterday (39 million gallons). Since most people don’t have that size measuring spoon, I said you could also use a 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon and fill it .4% full.
For kicks and giggles today, I decided to work the numbers another direction. Since I don’t have a 1/1,428,527 teaspoon measuring spoon, and since I thought it might be difficult to fill at 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon only .4% full, I was curious how big the four-foot backyard pool would need to be to require an entire teaspoon of oil to equal the Gulf oil:water ratio.
Here’s my math:
The volume (in gallons) of a round swimming pool is calculated with this formula: Depth x Diameter squared x 5.9.
I found that formula here. 5.9 is a multiplier that converts the volume measure into gallons.
My calculation yesterday told me that the 11,895 gallon pool would require .000539 teaspoon of oil to reach the Gulf ratio.
.000539 tsp. /11,895 gal. = 1 tsp. / X gallons,
My math skills are rusty, but since fractions can be cross-multiplied, we know that:
.000539 x X = 1 x 11,895, which allows us to solve for X by dividing 11,895 by .000539
X = 11,895/.000539 = 22, 068, 645
This means that it would require a 22,068,645 gallon pool to mix the one teaspoon of oil at the Gulf ratio.
Going back to our volume calculation, we can now solve for the diameter of this hypothetical four-foot pool.
depth * diameter squared * 5.9 = volume in gallons
4 * D squared * 5.9 = 22,068,645
D squared = 22,068,645/4*5.9
D squared = 935,112
D = 967
Thus, if you wanted to add a teaspoon of oil to your round, four-foot backyard pool at the same ratio as the oil spilled into the Gulf, you’d need a pool 967 feet across. The area of this pool is calculated at pi * r * r, where r = the radius (which is 1/2 of 967). The area of this pool would be 734, 435. There are 43,560 feet in an acre. The hypothetical pool with one teaspoon of oil added would cover 16.86 acres.
I need a bigger yard.
Jun 03, 2010 @ 11:39:37
All the plant and wildlife devestated by the spill, not to mention the people who are and will continue to be adversely affected by this spill, should feel a whole lot better having read this.
Jun 03, 2010 @ 13:12:36
Plant and wildlife won’t be “devastated” by this spill. Wring your hands all you want, but it won’t happen. The earth is not nearly as fragile as people believe.
Jun 08, 2010 @ 20:46:10
Dang, that’s a lot of math.
Jun 12, 2010 @ 09:14:57
Hey John, can you close that “send my money to Todd Coontz” thread. I am sick of getting email updates praising Herbert W. Armstrong, and the worldwide church of God, and generally just a bunch of rubbish (I can’t unsubscribe to the thread. No idea why I am subscribed anyway). Not sure if you even read it anymore, but Shirley is encouraging heresy and has some guy named “realdeal” in on her armstrongism too.
Jun 25, 2010 @ 06:55:56
Your calculations using volume are pointless as oil sits on the surface. The only calculation worth while would be on area alone not volume. Think we have a monumental disaster on our hands.