Hi. How would you write the equation for the question 'how long would it take to empty out the oceans with a spoon?

Question

Given that there are around 321,003,271 cubic miles of water and a tablespoon holds 15ml. And you are emptying 60 spoonfuls per minute. This is for a tattoo representing the lyrics 'trying to empty out the ocean with a spoon'. 

Answer 1

(15)(60) = 900 ml/hr

900 ml/hr = 0.9 L / hour

(24)(0.9) = 21.6 L / day

(365)(21.6) = 7884 L / year

 

1 liter = 0.264172 gal

2,082.732 gal / year

 

1 cubic mile = 147,197,952,000 ft³

1 ft³ = 7.48052 gal

1 mile³ = 1,101,806,110,000 gallon

 

1,101,806,110,000 gallon / 2,082.732 gal/yr = 529,019,629.2 years

Answer 2

But where would you put all that water???

Anyway,
According to Google: 1 cubic mile = 4.168*10^15 mL

321,003,271 mi^3 * (4.168*10^15 mL / mi^3) * (1 TBS/ 15 mL) * (1 min / 60 TBS) = some very large number of minutes

You could continue converting minutes to hours, days, or years if you wanted. For hours divide again by 60. For days divide by 60*24. For years divide by 60*24*365

Hope this helps!