 |
| |||||
| ||||||
|
| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
|
Question from John: Hello: I'm a journalist reporting on the proposal to bury 200,000 cubic metres of radioactive waste below ground near Kincardine, Ontario. I'm trying to put this figure into some kind of perspective for readers -- particularly in the U.S., where most are unfamiliar with the metric system. I don't know whether there's any particular frame of reference that would be enlightening -- U.S. football fields, Olympic-sized swimming pools, etc. Can you help? Thanks very much in advance, John |
Hi John,
I first converted cubic metres to cubic yards and got 261,590 cubic yards. An American football field is 120 yards by 53 \large \frac13 yards (including the end zones). If you covered a football field with this radioactive waste to the height of the goal post cross bar, 10 feet, this would give you a volume of 21,333.2 cubic yards. 261,590 divided by 21,333.2 is 12.26 so you could cover 12 football fields 10 feet deep with this stuff and still have some left over.
Harley
| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
 |
|
Math Central is supported by the University of Regina and The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.