Estimating the Dimensions of Campbell's Soup Water Tank

For this week's math problem, we are asked to find the estimated dimensions (length, width, volume) of a Campbell's soup water tank! This is a very interesting problem. I had fun doing this activity, except there were a lot of researching and estimating involved!

To get started with the problem, I needed to create a visual tool to help me estimate the water tank, and in the picture, the bike definitely helped with the problem! Looking at the picture as above, I began using the measurement of the bike to help me find the dimensions of the water tank. Several factors were involved in this process...

Susan's bike looks like a hybrid bike for commuting (road + mountain). I researched the standard (recommended) hybrid bike size for women who are 165 cm, which is Susan's height. The biker's inside leg length, according Cycle Experience, is 76 cm (http://www.cycleexperience.com/getting_the_right_size.php). This length is important because I figured that the length of the inseam is 76 cm for her height, and usually when bikers stand while sitting on the bike seat, their feet should still touch the ground without the need to tiptoe. Now, looking at the handle bar, according to MEC, the height for a road/mountain bike, is adjusted at 2.5 cm to 5 cm. Judging by the picture of her bike, it looks like it's raised 5 cm above the seat. So, the total length, labeled in green, of the bike should be, roughly, 81 cm. As well, since the tank is slanted, I have to take the top bit of length into account. I estimated it to be roughly 20 cm. Finally, the total length, or the diameter, of the tank is 81 cm + 81 cm + 20 cm = 182cm.
(http://www.mec.ca/AST/ContentPrimary/Learn/Cycling/Bikes/AdjustingYourSeatAndHandlebars.jsp). 
From there, we can calculate the radius of water tank is 182/2 = 91 cm (roughly).

Now, as for the length, labeled in yellow, I researched the estimated length of a standard road/mountain bike, and it is 1.8 m (http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/tools_solve/fhwasa12018/). For the remaining blue label, I used the measurement of the diameter of the bike tire. According to Harris Cyclery (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/rim-sizing.html), the diameter is measured to be 21 cm roughly. In total, the height of the water tank is 180 cm + 180 cm + 21 cm = 381 cm.

From these estimated calculations, the volume of the water tank is...
Pi * r^2 * h = Pi * 91^2 * 381 = 9,911,916.459 cm^3.

This is equivalent to roughly 2618.451 gallon!

I think this is definitely a fun activity for students to work on and get their brains thinking! I can sense that as students are working around this problem, they are probably very curious as to who ultimately gets the right answer! Working at this problem has allowed me to explore the realm of bicycles as well. Who knew there are so many types of bicycles out there. And in all cases, math is so important because we need measurements of our body to pick the best bike to ride. As for the volume of the water tank, we needed to estimate the dimensions, such as the diameter and the height of this cylinder water tank, based on the bike shown in the picture.