A cylindrical tank with a radius of 3 meters and a height of 10 meters is filled with water. If water is drained from the tank at a rate of 2 cubic meters per minute, how long will it take to empty the tank completely?

Sun, 03 May 2026 14:43:22 +0000

A cylindrical tank with a radius of 3 meters and a height of 10 meters holds a significant volume of water—enough to serve essential urban or industrial needs. With its dimensions carefully calculated, this tank has a total capacity of about 282.74 cubic meters. When drained at 2 cubic meters per minute, the straightforward math reveals that emptying the tank will take roughly 141.37 minutes, or nearly 2 hours and 21 minutes. This is a real-world scenario reflecting how infrastructure supports cities, agriculture, and water management systems across the U.S., where reliable storage and controlled drainage are critical for efficiency and safety. Why is this tank’s empty-drain cycle gaining traction now? Water infrastructure plays a vital behind-the-scenes role in everyday life, especially in urban planning and emergency preparedness. With growing discussions on sustainability, resource efficiency, and resilient systems, understanding how long it takes to release contained water helps professionals and communities optimize operations, estimate flood risks, and maintain essential services. The simplicity of this calculation makes it a useful reference for engineers, city planners, and water resource managers who manage similar tank systems daily. To understand how long a cylindrical tank with a 3-meter radius and 10-meter height takes to empty at 2 cubic meters per minute, break it down step by step: multiply the base area by height to find volume, then divide by the flow rate. The base area uses the formula πr², resulting in approximately 28.27 square meters. Multiply by 10 meters for a total volume of 282.7 cubic meters. At a steady