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this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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(from Bard, I'm not sure this math is mathing.. )
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is estimated to be twice the size of Texas, or about 1.6 million square kilometers. If an ocean cleanup crew can clear a space the size of a football field every five seconds, it would take them:
(1.6 million square kilometers) / (1 football field per 5 seconds) * (3,600 seconds per hour) * 24 hours per day = 2,880,000 hours
So, it would take the ocean cleanup crew about 9.5 years to clear the garbage patch if they worked round the clock.
However, this is just a theoretical calculation. In reality, there are many factors that would affect the time it takes to clear the garbage patch, such as the efficiency of the cleanup crew, the amount of plastic in the patch, and the weather conditions. It is also important to note that the garbage patch is not a solid mass, but rather a collection of floating plastic debris. This means that the cleanup crew would need to spend time navigating through the patch and collecting the plastic.
Here's my math:
Texas = 268,597 mi²
1 square mile = 27,878,400 ft²
1 football field = 57,600 ft²
1 square mile = 484 football fields (27,878,400/57,600)
Texas = 130,000,948 football fields (484*268,597)
Pacific Garbage Patch = 260,001,896 football fields (130,000,948*2)
If one football field can be cleared every 5 seconds, it will take 1,300,009,480 seconds to clear (260,001,896*5) 1,300,009,480 seconds = 15,046.4 days = 41.2 years to clear the garbage patch if one of these contraptions were to work round the clock.
ETA: This math is assuming we stop continuously refilling the garbage patch.
Something something metric system
You want me to redo it in metric football fields?!
Quite a significant change, when 1 km2 is about 140 (real) football fields