Question

A 50-gallon hot water tank uses water at peak times at a rate of 1.2 gallons per minute. When will the water tank run out of hot water? Is 50 minutes a viable option?(1 point)
Responses

It will run out of water in 41.666666 minutes. No, 50 is not a viable option.
It will run out of water in 41.666666 minutes. No, 50 is not a viable option.

It will run out of water in 42 minutes. Yes, it is a viable option.
It will run out of water in 42 minutes. Yes, it is a viable option.

It will run out of water in 48.8 minutes. No, it is not a viable option.
It will run out of water in 48.8 minutes. No, it is not a viable option.

It will run out of water in 60 minutes. Yes, it is a viable option.
It will run out of water in 60 minutes. Yes, it is a viable option.

Answer 1

To determine how long the 50-gallon hot water tank will last, we can use the flow rate of water being used. The tank dispenses water at a rate of 1.2 gallons per minute.

We can calculate the time until the tank runs out of water using the formula:

\[
\text{Time (in minutes)} = \frac{\text{Total Gallons}}{\text{Gallons per minute}}
\]

Substituting the values:

\[
\text{Time} = \frac{50 \text{ gallons}}{1.2 \text{ gallons/minute}} \approx 41.67 \text{ minutes}
\]

Then we can round this to 42 minutes.

Since the question asks if 50 minutes is a viable option, we can see that 42 minutes is less than 50 minutes, meaning the tank will run out before reaching that time frame. Thus, 50 minutes is not a viable option.

The correct answer is:

"It will run out of water in 42 minutes. No, it is not a viable option."