A blast from the past! Oil spills and unit conversations, a middle school Practical Uses of Math and Science (PUMAS) example published in 1999.
The short story: On February 4, 1999, the 639-foot freighter New Carissa became grounded near Coos Bay on the Oregon coast. Aboard the ship were 400,000 gallons of bunker fuel, threatening to leak from the fractured hull and damage the state’s fragile beach habitats. With an approaching storm increasing the chances of a disastrous spill, authorities decided to set the ship afire, a choice not without controversy and risks of its own. What would be the potential scale of the disaster if that much oil did spill? 400,000 gallons is equivalent to 400,000 milk jugs –- a lot of milk. But how much space does 400,000 gallons really take up? Some simple arithmetic can help put the quantity in perspective.
See the full article at: https://pumas.gsfc.nasa.gov/files/02_23_99_1.pdf
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