Question:

Given below are two statements:

Statement (I): According to USDA estimates, the total amount of water on earth is about 1400 billion cubic kilometers.

Statement (II): This amount of water is enough to cover the earth with a layer of 300 meters (depth).

In light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below.

Show Hint

Check the actual figure: earth's total water is close to 1.4 billion cubic km, and spreading it over the whole surface gives a depth in kilometers, not a few hundred meters.
  • Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are true.
  • Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are false.
  • Statement (I) is true but Statement (II) is false.
  • Statement (I) is false but Statement (II) is true.
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
We are given two claimed facts about earth's total water volume and need to check each one against the real figures.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
The commonly cited USDA style estimate of total water on earth (oceans, ice, groundwater, atmosphere and living things combined) is about \(1.4\) billion cubic kilometers, sometimes written as 1400 million cubic km. To check the claimed covering depth, we use
\[ \text{depth} = \frac{\text{total water volume}}{\text{earth's surface area}} \]
using earth's total surface area of about \(5.1 \times 10^{8}\) km\(^2\).

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
Checking Statement (I): the standard estimate is about \(1.4\) billion cubic kilometers of water, that is \(1.4 \times 10^{9}\) km\(^3\). The statement instead says 1400 billion cubic kilometers, which is \(1.4 \times 10^{12}\) km\(^3\), a thousand times larger than the real figure. So Statement (I) as written is false.
Checking Statement (II): using the correct total of \(1.4 \times 10^{9}\) km\(^3\) spread evenly over the whole earth surface of \(5.1 \times 10^{8}\) km\(^2\),
\[ \text{depth} = \frac{1.4 \times 10^{9}}{5.1 \times 10^{8}} \approx 2.7 \text{ km} \approx 2700 \text{ m} \]
This works out to about 2700 to 3000 meters, not the 300 meters claimed in the statement, so Statement (II) is also false regardless of how Statement (I)'s number is read.

Step 4: Final Answer:
Both statements carry numbers that are off from the real figures (statement I by a factor of about 1000, statement II by a factor of about 9), so both are false.
\[ \boxed{\text{Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are false}} \]
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