If it were to melt, the Arctic ice cap would release approximately 680,000 cubic miles of water into our oceans, causing sea levels to rise. With many cities located mere feet above sea level, this could be disastrous.

1. The Earth is roughly spherical with a radius of about 3960 miles. The formula for the surface area of a sphere is

S=4πr2

Use this formula and 3.14 for to approximate the surface area of the Earth.

2. Oceans cover about 71% of the Earth. Use your answer to question 1 to approximate the surface area covered by oceans. Round to the nearest square mile.

3. The total rise in sea level – in miles – that would occur if the Arctic ice cap were to melt can be computed by dividing the volume of water that would be released by the surface area of the oceans. Use your answer to question 2 to approximate the rise in sea level to the nearest foot (there are 5280 feet in one mile).

4. Using your result to question 3 and ignoring other factors that might also contribute to increasing the sea level, suppose the Arctic ice cap melts completely over the next 200 years at a constant rate. How many feet would the sea level rise each year?

5. Taking t to represent the number of years after the ice cap begins melting, write an expression that represents the increase in sea level after t years.

A city will be safe provided its current height above sea level is greater than the overall increase to the sea level.

6. San Diego is 13 ft above sea level.

(a) For what values of t will San Diego be safe from the effects of the melting polar ice cap? Give your answer in interval notation.

(b) For what values of t will San Diego be submerged by the melting polar ice cap? Give your answer in interval notation.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 Using the formula S4r2 where r is the radius of the Earth 3960 miles we get S 4 x 314 x 39602 1973... View the full answer