Find the energy equivalent to the spilled oil in joules

Question

in 2010, a well being filled from the deep water horizon platform in the golf of Mexico blew out, spilling some 5 million barrels of oil into the water over three months. Find the energy equivalent of the spilled oil, in joules, and estimate how long this oil could have supplied the entire power demand of the USA, 2.8 x 10^12 Watts

Answer 1

You have to determine the energy of the oil:

5x10⁶ bbl *(energy/bbl) = energy from oil

Unless the energy/bbl is given, you can google energy in one barrel of oil (5.8 million btu). You can also ask google how many joules are in 1 btu and multiply by that to get joules.

Power = Energy/Time so time = energy/power You have energy in joules and the power in watts = Joules/second. You will get seconds for time.

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