Ocean · Puzzle #6 · Monday, October 5

Ocean: the answers

Four questions, each with one true number. Here they are with their answers, how to reason each one out, and where the number comes from. Play today's Ocean.

1. 1. Carnival's Bahamas beach stop Celebration Key welcomed 2.4 million guests in its first year. How many sweet treats did its Mini Donut King food truck serve?

   

   The answer: more than 400,000. Mini Donut King is a Bahamian-owned food truck.

   1. 2.4Mguests
   2. ÷4guests per treat

   ≈600ktreats

   Source: Carnival Cruise Line, Celebration Key Celebrates First Birthday After Welcoming 2.4 Million Guests

2. 2. How many pounds of canned and pouched tuna do Americans eat in a year?

   The answer: about 1 billion. About half of US households serve tuna every month.

   1. 330Mpeople in the US
   2. ×12cans each a year
   3. ×0.3pound a can

   ≈1.19Bpounds

   Source: Chicken of the Sea (National Fisheries Institute figures), World Tuna Day: Tuna Trivia

3. 3. How tall was the biggest wave ever surfed, according to Guinness World Records, in feet?

   

   The answer: about 86 feet. Germany's Sebastian Steudtner rode the record wave off Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal, on 29 October 2020, and the World Surf League authenticated it.

   Napkin math: A big-wave tow-in giant at Nazaré can dwarf a multi-story building; picture eight or nine stories at roughly 10 feet each.

   Source: Guinness World Records, Largest wave surfed (unlimited) - male

4. 4. Most coasts get two high tides per lunar day. How many minutes longer than 24 hours is a lunar day?

   

   The answer: 50 minutes (24 hours and 50 minutes). That is why high tide arrives a little later each day: Earth has to spin extra to catch up with the Moon.

   1. 24hours a day
   2. ×60minutes an hour
   3. ÷30days for the Moon to circle Earth

   ≈48minutes

   Source: NOAA National Ocean Service, How frequent are tides?

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