i don't understand this

Question

There are many ways to defrost a turkey. One way is to let it thaw slowly in the refrigerator, at a thaw rate of about 4 pounds per day. Another way is to submerge the turkey in cold water, which thaws it at a rate of 1 pound per 30 minutes. Approximately how many more ounces of turkey can the cold-water method thaw in 2 hours than the refrigerator method?

Answer 1

Hi Anna,

 

So for the refrigerator method, you can thaw 4 pounds a day.  

Since there are 24 hours in a day, you can thaw 4 pounds in 24 hours.

We want to know how much can be thawed in two hours.

 

We can set up a proportion like this where x is the number of pounds thawed in 2 hours.

4/24 = x/2

and cross multiply

8 = 24x

x = 1/3 pound

since there are 16 ounces in a pound

1/3 x 16 = 16/3 ounces = 5 1/3 ounces

 

Now lets move o the cold water method.

You can thaw 1 pound in 30 minutes.  That's 1 pound in 1/2 hour.

Let's set up another proportion

1/(.5) = y/2  where y is the number of pound thawed in 2 hours via the cold water method

2 = .5y

y = 4 pounds in 2 hours

Converting this to ounces

4 x 16 = 64 ounces

 

64 oz - 5 1/3 oz = 58 2/3 oz