How many hours will it take for 4 pumps to fill a tank if 2 pumps can ...
Understanding the Problem
To determine how long it will take for 4 pumps to fill a tank, we first need to understand the rate at which the pumps work.
Rate of 2 Pumps
- 2 pumps can fill the tank in 18 hours.
- This means their combined rate is 1 tank per 18 hours.
Calculating the Rate of 1 Pump
- If 2 pumps fill the tank in 18 hours, the rate for 1 pump is half of that:
- Rate of 1 pump = 1 tank / (2 * 18) hours = 1 tank / 36 hours.
Rate of 4 Pumps
- Now, if 1 pump takes 36 hours to fill 1 tank, 4 pumps working together will have a combined rate:
- Rate of 4 pumps = 4 * (1 tank / 36 hours) = 4 tanks / 36 hours = 1 tank / 9 hours.
Time for 4 Pumps to Fill the Tank
- Therefore, it will take 4 pumps 9 hours to fill the tank.
Conclusion
The correct answer is option 'C': 9 hours.
This calculation shows that by increasing the number of pumps, the time taken to fill the tank decreases proportionally.
How many hours will it take for 4 pumps to fill a tank if 2 pumps can ...
Two pumps together fill 1 tank in 18 hours; their combined rate is 1/18 tank per hour.
Rate of one pump = (1/18) ÷ 2 = 1/36 tank per hour.
Rate of four pumps = 4 × 1/36 = 1/9 tank per hour.
Time for four pumps = reciprocal of rate = 9 hours.