Final answer:
The time to fill an 80,000 L swimming pool with a garden hose delivering 60 L/min is approximately 1333.33 minutes or 22.2 hours. If a river flowing at 5000 m³/s could be diverted to fill the pool, it would do so almost instantaneously.
Step-by-step explanation:
Estimating Time to Fill a Swimming Pool
To answer the student's question about estimating the time required to fill a swimming pool with specific capacities, we'll use two scenarios. Firstly, we'll calculate the time it would take for a garden hose with a flow rate of 60 L/min to fill an 80,000 L pool, and secondly, the time it would take a river with a much larger flow rate to accomplish the same task.
Using a Garden Hose
Given that the garden hose has a flow rate of 60 L/min, we can calculate the time to fill the pool by dividing the total volume of water needed by the flow rate. This gives us:
Time = Total Volume / Flow Rate = 80,000 L / 60 L/min = 1333.33 minutes, or approximately 22.2 hours.
Using a River
If a moderate size river with a flow rate of 5000 m³/s is diverted to the pool, this corresponds to 5,000,000 L/s. Knowing that we aim for 80,000 L, we get:
Time = Total Volume / Flow Rate = 80,000 L / 5,000,000 L/s = 0.016 minutes, or nearly instantaneously.