Difficulty: Rating: GCSE Marks:

GCSE Text:
A swimming pool has the following dimensions. Water is the same depth across the whole pool.

a) What is the volume of water required to fill the pool?

During filling, water is transferred at a rate of 1m³ every 15 minutes.

b) At that rate, how long would it take to fill the pool from empty?

Suggestions:
A fun example of a simple volume question that could appear on a GCSE Foundation paper. Some examining boards give marks for correct units, so it is worth stressing the importance of adding correct units to any volume answer.  The second question often confuses lower ability classes, but by asking how many m³ of water can be transferred in one hour, normally students work out the answer quite simply.

Extension Ideas:
Teachers could extend the learning by considering:

• During the summer months when the pool is used most, approximately 0.5cm of water depth across the pool is lost per day.  What volume of water is lost over the period of a week?
• The filtering system recycles water at a rate of 10m³ per day. How many days (to the nearest whole number) does it take to recycle and filter the entire volume of water in the pool?