Question

Assume everyone in the US consumes one aluminum can of soda every two days. If there are 300 million Americans, how many tons of aluminum are needed a year if one can weighs 1 ounce? A. 25 million tons
B 3.0 million tons
C 1.7 million tons
D 1.5 million tons
E 0.7 million tons

Answer 1

Answer:

C 1.7 million tons

Explanation:

First we have to divide the number of days in a year by two to calculate the number of aluminum canes that one american uses a year:

365/2=182,5

So then we have that 182,5 is the number of cans that an american uses a year, we multiply that by 300 million americans:

182,5*300,000,000=5.475x10^10

So we use 5.475x10^10 is the amount of ounces that we use in cans now we just convert that to tons:

5.475x10^10*3.125e-5=1,710,937.5

So the tons are 1,710,937.5 from the total number of cans that are used by the 300 million americans.

Answer 2

Answer: The correct answer is Option C.

Explanation:

We know that:

Number of days in a year = 365 days

We are given:

Number of people = 300 million

In 2 days, 1 aluminium cans are consumed.

So, in 365 days, number of aluminium cans consumed are = $\frac{1}{2}\times 365=182.5$

It is also given:

1 aluminium can weighs 1 ounce

Converting this into tons, we use the conversion factor:

$1oz=3.125\times 10^{-5}tons$

Amount of aluminium needed will be = Number of people × Number of cans consumed ×  Mass of aluminium in 1 can

Amount of aluminium needed will be = $[300\text{ million}\times 182.5\times 3.125\times 10^{-5}\text{ tons}]=1.7\text{ million tons}$

Hence, the correct answer is Option C.