The U.S. federal debt in the 2008 fiscal year was a little greater than $10 tril

Question

The U.S. federal debt in the 2008 fiscal year was a little greater than $10 trillion (1 x 1013). Most of us do not have any concept of how much even one trillion actually is. Suppose that you were given a trillion dollars in $100 bills. If you made $100-bill stacks, like that shown in the picture, and used them to evenly cover a football field between the end zones, make an approximation of how high the money pile would become. We will use feet and inches rather than meters here because football fields are measured in yards. One of your friends says 3 in, while another says 10 ft. What do you think? A $100-bill is about 6 in long, 2.5 in wide and 0.0043 in thick. A game field is 100 yd long and 160 ft wide. the height would equal 77.76 ft. Now choose from one of the following options Why? 10 ft

Explanation / Answer

Volume covered by single $100 bill will be

Vb = L*W*H

Vb = 6 in*2.5 in*0.0043 in = 0.0645 in^3

Now we know that

1 trillion dollar = 1*10^12 dollars

1 stack = 100 notes of $100 = 1*10^4 dollars

So number of stacks in 1 trillion dollars = 1*10^12/(1*10^4) = 10^8 stacks.

Volume of single stack will be = number of bills in single stack*Volume of single bill

Volume of single stack will be = 100*0.0645 = 6.45 in^3

Total Volume of stacks will be

Vs = number of stacks*Volume of single stack = 10^8*6.45 = 6.45*10^8 m^3

Now area of football field will be

Area = 100 yd*160 ft

1 ft = 12 inch

1 yd = 36 in

Area = 100*36 in*160*12 in = 6912000 in^2

Area = 6.912*10^6 in^2

So height of stacks will be given by

Height = Total Volume of stack/Area of football field

Height = 6.45*10^8/(6.912*10^6) = 93.31 in

1 in = 0.0833 ft

Height in ft will be

Height = 93.31 in*(0.0833 ft/1 in) = 7.77 ft

So Approximate height = 7.77 ft = 8 ft

Correct option will be C.

Please Upvote. Comment below if you have any doubt.

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