Using conversion factors!?!?

Question

Ok so we just learned conversion factors today and it looked easy and it is easy but I dont know what to do on the worksheet tonight
heres a sample problem

256 gal./min X ? = ? gal. / hour

Answer 1

you have 1hour = 60 min
so we want to have gal/hour which hour is on the bottom , so
60min/1hour

256(gal/min)*60min/hour = 15360 gal./hour

Answer 2

The whole thing with conversions is to get the units correct.
you have 256 gal / min.
One hour is 60 minutes or you can say 60 minutes is one hour. written 60 min / hr
256 gal / min x 60 min / hr
Since the minutes are in the numerator of one ratio and in the denominator of the other, they cancel giving 15360 gal / hr

Answer 3

You have gallons on top and minutes on the bottom, and you want to get to gallons per hour. So you want to change the minutes to hours. There are 60 minutes in one hour, so your conversion factor is "60 min / 1 hour". This way the minutes unit "cancels" with the minutes unit in "256 gal/min".

Using conversion units might seem like a pain at first, but beleve me, they're worth using in the long run. They eliminate the confusion of whether you're supposed to multiply or divide at a certain step.

Answer 4

You'll get a whole education about "cancelling" units, so here's a different way to look at it, "replacing" units . . .

60minute = 1hour

minute = 1/60hour

Put in 1/60hour in for "min"

256gal/[(1/60)hour] = 60*256gal/hour = 15360gal/hour

The "conversion factors" are obtained from the first equality by dividing by one side completely, e.g.

60minute = 1hour

60minute/1hour = 1

or

1 = 1hour/60minute

These then exploit the fact that you can take a quantity times 1 without changing it.

Answer 5

1hr has 60min
So if in 1 min, it pumps 256 gal,
then in 60 min, it is going to pump 60 * 256 gal

Hope that helps.

Answer 6

do this math.

256 gal/minX 60 min/1hr= ? gal/hr , then cancell the min from denominator and numerator, then you have 256X60 gal/hr. and end up with
15360 gal/hr

Answer 7

The conversion factor "converts" one unit into another. To do this, you have to know that there are 5,280 feet/mile. That's your conversion factor. Multiply your distance in miles by 5,280 to find the distance in feet. 122miles * 5,280 feet/mile = 644,160 feet