What is the capacity of a 50-foot section of 2½ inch hose?

• A. 2,945 cubic inches or 12.75 gallons
• B. 1,500 cubic inches
• C. 3,000 cubic inches
• D. 2,000 cubic inches

Answer: (D)

Think of the hose as a short cylinder. Its capacity is the volume inside, which is found with V = π r^2 h. The inner radius is half of the diameter, so for a 2½ inch hose, the radius is 1.25 inches. The length of a 50-foot section is 50 × 12 = 600 inches.

Plug in the values: V ≈ π × (1.25)^2 × 600 = π × 1.5625 × 600 ≈ 3.1416 × 937.5 ≈ 2,945 cubic inches. In gallons, since 1 gallon = 231 cubic inches, that’s 2,945 / 231 ≈ 12.75 gallons.

So the capacity is about 2,945 cubic inches (roughly 12.75 gallons). The other options don’t match this cylinder-based calculation for a 50-foot length of 2½ inch hose.