Rain Water Collection

As part of our studies on the hydrosphere we’re trying to determine the amount (volume) of rain water that could be collected from the roof of our classroom building. So far students determined the average annual rainfall received in Winter Garden and the dimensions of the 400 building (see the gallery for pictures).

The challenge that remains is how to convert those measurements into typical units of volume (gallons or liters). Of course this might be complicated by having a mix of metric and standard measures (i.e. rainfall in inches and building dimensions in meters).

Looking for some extra credit? Then take this exercise one step further.

If the rate of rainfall is 1.5 inches per hour and it rains for 1/2 hour, how many 220 liter rain barrels will be required to collect all the run-off from the 400 building roof.

Submit your answer on a separate sheet of paper, showing all your calculations. Be sure to have your name (first and last), the date and period at the top of your paper and underline your answer. Turn in no later than Wednesday 9/26.

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11 Responses to Rain Water Collection

  1. HANNAH says:

    Dude I so got the ansew to that thing in class its easy!!!…its 26,208,000L..it took me so long to finnaly get it

  2. Mr. Grant says:

    Are you sure?

  3. Hannah and Jaci!! ((: says:

    I think so…
    ((:

    Is it??

    please…

  4. Mr. Grant says:

    How did you get it?

  5. hannah and jacii((: says:

    I did 65m x 32m x 1.26m and got 2,6208meters cubed but jonathan told me i was wrong so I changed it.

    hi mr.grant!!-from me…

    jaci

  6. Andrew says:

    Like i said would it just be easyer to tell them yourself.

  7. Mr. Grant says:

    Watch your decimal place.

  8. hannah says:

    the extra credit is due friday right?

  9. hannah says:

    oh my bad its due today..woops..can I turn it in tomorow..thursday?

  10. Mr. Grant says:

    All classes were given an extra day to complete the extra credit. Tomorrow is fine.

  11. Mr. Grant says:

    Thanks to all of you who attempted to solve this extra credit problem. Here’s how it was graded 3 points for attempting it, 7 points for most of it right, 10 points for a correct response.

    So how do you solve this one? The same way we did the investigation on class. You needed to solve for volume:

    V=LxWxH

    L= length of the building in meters (same as you used in class)

    W= width of building in meters (same as you used in class)

    H= depth of rain in meters (remember you have to use all the same units)

    1.5 inches per hr for .5 hrs = .75 inches. Convert this to meters multiply by 2.54 (number of cm in 1 inch, the conversion is listed in your planner) then divide by 100 to convert to meters (100cm in a meter).

    H=.75 x 0.0254 =0.01905 (round to .002m)

    V=60x30x.002=36 cubic meters

    convert cubic meters to liters multiple by 1000

    36×1000=36,000 L

    Divide by 220L per barrel

    36,000 / 220 = 163.6 barrels

    Sounds like a lot to do but we did almost all of this in class and it should have been in your notes.

    Good notes pay off.

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