Question

Horsetooth reservoir has a capacity of 168,000 acre-feet. How many grams of iron are in the full reservoir if the water contains 9.8 x 10ˆ-6 g of iron per liter of water? (1 acre-foot = 1233.5 mˆ3)

a) 20.64 kg
b) 207.36 kg
c) 2.07 kg
d) 2.0 x 10ˆ6 g

Answer 1

Option (D), The Horsetooth reservoir contains approximately 2.03074 x 109 grams of iron when full, which is equivalent to 2.0 x 106 kg of iron.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student has asked how many grams of iron are in a full Horsetooth reservoir if it contains 9.8 x 10-6 g of iron per liter of water and the reservoir has a capacity of 168,000 acre-feet.To solve this, we need to convert the volume from acre-feet to cubic meters, and then to liters because the iron content is given in grams per liter.

1. First, we convert the reservoir's capacity to cubic meters: 168,000 acre-feet * 1233.5 m3/acre-foot = 207,228,000 m3.
2. Then, we convert cubic meters to liters, knowing that 1 m3 = 1,000 liters: 207,228,000 m3 * 1,000 liters/m3 = 207,228,000,000 liters.
3. Finally, multiply the total liters by the iron content per liter: 207,228,000,000 liters * 9.8 x 10-6 g/liter = 2.03074 x 109 g or 2.03 x 106 kg.

Therefore, the reservoir contains 2.03074 x 109 grams of iron, which can be approximated to 2.0 x 106 kg (option d).