Question

Ben franklin showed that 1 teaspoon of oil would cover about 0.50 acre of still water. if you know that 1.0 x 104m2 = 2.47 acres, and that there are 5.0 cm3 in a teaspoon, what is the thickness (in cm) of a later of oil?

Answer 1

To solve for the thickness of the latter of oil, we can simply divide the volume by the total surface area:

Thickness = Volume / Surface Area

We are both given the volume and the surface area, all we have to do now is to convert the units in like terms so that we can cancel those out.

Surface Area = 0.50 acres (1.0 x 10^4 m^2 / 2.47 acres)

Surface Area = 2,024.29 m^2

Further converting this into cm:

Surface Area = 2,024.29 m^2 (100 cm / m)^2

Surface Area = 20,242,914.98 cm^2

 

Therefore the thickness is:

Thickness = 5.0 cm^3 / 20,242,914.98 cm^2

Thickness = 2.47 x 10^-7 cm

or

Thickness = 2.47 x 10^-9 m = 2.47 nm = 24.7 A