deepwater horizon incident

Question

Over the course of 87 days, about 200 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. If the oil spilled at a constant rate each day, how many gallons were lost per day?

Answer 1

A total of 200 gallons of oil were spilled at a constant rate for 87 days. Since the rate is constant, you can divide the total by the rate to get the amount spilled per day.

200 gallons / 87 days = 2.30 gallons/day

Be sure to report the answer with the proper number of significant figures, 87 has the fewest digits, and since it is an integer it has three significant figures, and so should your answer.

Hope this helps.