Final answer:
The volume of the reservoir described is calculated by multiplying the area (50.0 km²) by the depth (40.0 m), resulting in 2 trillion liters or 2,000,000 megaliters. This demonstrates a vast volume of water, equating to roughly 200 times the volume of a standard 6-lane 50-meter lap pool.
Step-by-step explanation:
The volume of an aquarium or any rectangular prism is calculated by the formula Volume = length × width × depth. In the context of the provided question, the aquarium in question seems to relate to a theoretical or hypothetical calculation rather than a real one, as the numbers provided refer to a very large volume usually not associated with aquaria. However, if we treat the information as a calculation exercise, we would multiply the surface area by the depth to find the volume. The provided equation, Ah = (50.0 km²)(40.0 m), suggests we are looking at a very large body of water, more similar to a reservoir or lake. If we convert the kilometers to meters by multiplying by 1,000 (as there are 1,000 meters in a kilometer), we would then multiply 50,000 meters by 40 meters to obtain the volume in cubic meters, and then convert cubic meters to liters (as 1 cubic meter equals 1,000 liters).
Thus, the calculation should be (50.0 km² × 1,000 × 1,000) × 40.0 m × 1,000 = 2,000,000,000,000 L, which equals 2 trillion liters. When dealing with such large volumes, it might be more convenient to use other units of measurement, such as megaliters (ML), where 1 ML equals 1,000,000 L. Therefore, the volume in megaliters would be 2,000,000 ML.
For comparison, the question provides that this volume is about 200 times the volume of water contained in a 6-lane, 50-meter lap pool, illustrating how vast a volume of 2 trillion liters is.