Help Needed: Urgent Calculus Project - When the World Will End

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Homework Help Overview

The original poster seeks assistance with a calculus project titled "When the World Will End," focusing on calculating the area and volume of the Earth and its water using calculus methods. The project aims to determine the maximum carrying capacity of the world and predict when human needs for space and water will be exceeded.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the relevance of calculus in the context of the project, questioning how to apply related rates and other calculus concepts to the problem of resource limits.

Discussion Status

The discussion is ongoing, with some participants providing insights into the nature of the problem and suggesting potential approaches, such as related rates. There is an acknowledgment of the creative aspect of the project title, which is not meant to be taken literally.

Contextual Notes

The original poster has specified constraints regarding the use of physics in the project, indicating a focus solely on calculus methods. There is also a mention of specific given values related to the Earth's area and water volume.

Radja24
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Hello ladies and gentleman. I need help ONLY because...my project is due tomorrow. BUT dear sirs and siresses, do not fret. I only need some help in some areas (let us hope).

My project is entitled When the World will End. I wanted to make a somewhat, vague creative project, so I chose this project.

The problem I need is how to find the area and the volume of the world, and the volume of the world's water using calculus methods only. I know how to find volume and area, but the variables for finding the area nd volume of the world are confusing.

My goal is to find a maximum carrying capacity of the world using calculus, and then I will use logistic growth to find the time from today to see when the world will end.

My project is based on the fact that humans need a certain supply of water (let's say 1 gallon to start) every day. The point I want to find is what time humans will surpass the point when there is either not enough space or not enough water for humans.

Now i have some givens-

Area of the world- 148.94 sq km
area of the world's water- 361.132 sq km
Approximate volume of the world's water- 326 cubic miles
 
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Radja24 said:
Hello ladies and gentleman. I need help ONLY because...my project is due tomorrow. BUT dear sirs and siresses, do not fret. I only need some help in some areas (let us hope).

My project is entitled When the World will End. I wanted to make a somewhat, vague creative project, so I chose this project.

The problem I need is how to find the area and the volume of the world, and the volume of the world's water using calculus methods only. I know how to find volume and area, but the variables for finding the area nd volume of the world are confusing.

My goal is to find a maximum carrying capacity of the world using calculus, and then I will use logistic growth to find the time from today to see when the world will end.

My project is based on the fact that humans need a certain supply of water (let's say 1 gallon to start) every day. The point I want to find is what time humans will surpass the point when there is either not enough space or not enough water for humans.

Now i have some givens-

Area of the world- 148.94 sq km
area of the world's water- 361.132 sq km
Approximate volume of the world's water- 326 cubic miles

Welcome to the PF. The world will not "end" in the scenario you outline. It will be self-limiting if we reach the limits of our water recycling and food growing capabilities. And the volume of the oceans is not really relevant -- more to your point is the volume of fresh water available, and what the natural turnover rate is (evaporation from the oceans and precipitation of fresh water over land).

I'm also not sure how calculus would come into this -- do you mean to use a related rates type of approach?
 
Oh, and your post is coursework, so it belongs here in the Homework Help forums, where I've moved it.
 
the world ends thing is supposed to be a catching title lol, but its not meant to be literal. although, i HAVE to use calculus, as i tried to think of more interesting ideas for a calc project but i have only this. i can't use physics
 
Radja24 said:
the world ends thing is supposed to be a catching title lol, but its not meant to be literal. although, i HAVE to use calculus, as i tried to think of more interesting ideas for a calc project but i have only this. i can't use physics

Have you covered the topic of Related Rates yet? Seems like you might be able to write a few equations that would apply to different parts of the survival puzzle.
 

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