Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
12,080
feet
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
The Titanic sits on the floor of the open Atlantic, about 2.5 miles down. Is that an unusually deep spot? Not really, it's ordinary ocean floor far from land, so call it typical.
- Titanic wreck
- ~2.5 mi down
- Feet in a mile
- × 5,280
- 2.5 × 5,280
- ≈ 13,200 ft
The Titanic sits on the floor of the open Atlantic, about 4 kilometers down. Is that an unusually deep spot? Not really, it's ordinary ocean floor far from land, so call it typical.
- Titanic wreck
- ~4 km down
- Meters in a kilometer
- × 1,000
- 4 × 1,000
- ≈ 4,000 m
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- Mean depth of the world ocean, from satellite data (NOAA and Woods Hole, 2010)
- 3,682 m
- In feet
- ≈ 12,080 ft
Reference cited by Fermi: NOAA National Ocean Service: the average depth of the ocean is about 3,682 meters (12,080 feet), from Charette and Smith (2010), Oceanography 23(2)
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