A rectangular tank measuring 3 meters in length, 2 meters in width, and 1.5 meters in depth is excavated in a field that is 20 meters long and 14 meters wide. If the soil removed from the tank is uniformly spread over the entire field, by approximately how many centimeters will the field's surface level rise?

Explanation

The volume of soil dug out from the tank is 3 m × 2 m × 1.5 m = 9 cubic meters. When this soil is evenly distributed over the field area of 20 m × 14 m = 280 square meters, the rise in the field's surface level is volume/area = 9 m³ / 280 m² = 0.0321 meters or approximately 3.2 centimeters. The closest option is 2.98 cm.