The Atlantic Ocean is not static, but instead it is very active, and it is actually spreading from its central part. In its central part, this ocean has a mid-ocean ridge. This basically means that there is constant formation of new crust from the magma that comes out, and the old crust is pushed sideways as the new one is formed. On an annual level, the mid-ocean ridge is spreading out by an estimated 0.02 meters, thus that is how much the Atlantic Ocean is spreading out each year. In order to get to the result as to how many years are needed for the Atlantic Ocean to spread 500 cm, we just need to multiply the annual spreading with the number of cm in question:
0.02 x 500 =250
Thus we get a result of 250, meaning that in 250 years the Atlantic Ocean will spread out 500 cm in total.
