Glenn Elert
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The Physics Factbook™
Edited by Glenn Elert -- Written by his students
An educational, Fair Use website
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| Bibliographic Entry | Result (w/surrounding text) | Standardized Result |
|---|---|---|
| Ray, Bill T. Water Quality & Usage. Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. | "Oceans 13,700 × 1017 kg" | 1.37 × 1021 kg |
| The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 3rd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. | "Total volume of about 1.347 × 109 cu km" | 1.347 × 1021 kg |
| Ciesielski, Origin of the Oceans, Atmosphere, and Life. Evolution of Earth & Life. University of Florida. | "Mass of oceans = 1.4 × 1024 grams" | 1.4 × 1021 kg |
| CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Ed. Robert C. Weast. New York: CRC Press, 1980: F-199. | "Area of world oceans 361 × 106 km2 Mean depth of world oceans 3794 m" | 1.37 × 1021 kg |
| Useful Quantities in Climate Research. Pacific Rim Energy and Environment Network. Climate Change Information Center. | "Ocean mass 1.384 × 1021 kg Modified from Clark, W. C. (ed.). 1982. Carbon Dioxide Review: 1982, p. 469, Oxford University Press, New York." | 1.384 × 1021 kg |
Four-fifths of the southern hemisphere and the more than three-fifthsof the northern hemisphere are under water. The Pacific, 70 millionsquare miles in area, is almost circular in shape and covers nearlyhalf the earth's surface. The Atlantic, at 36.3 million squaremiles, forms a broad S with the two sides almost matching. TheIndian Ocean forms a large triangle with the Indian peninsulaprotruding through the upper apex. The Arctic Ocean, with itscover of floating ice, has an area of only 3.7 million squaresmiles and is almost surrounded by land.
After looking around the web and reference books, I found thatthe mass of the oceans is not always given in kilograms (kg).Some of the values were given in grams and I had to convert themto kilograms by multiplying by 1000. One of the sites didn't havethe mass of the oceans, but it did have their combined volume.So I had to calculate the mass by using the formula D = m/V,where D is density, m is mass, and V is volume. The density ofocean water is approximately 1000 kilogram per cubic meter. One of mysources had neither mass nor volume, but area in squares kilometersand depth in meters. To obtain the mass, I multiplied area timesdepth, times 10003 to get a result in kilograms.
After looking up all the sites and the information I gathered,I have found that the mass of the world oceans is about 1.4 × 1021 kg.
Avijeet Dut -- 1998
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