Are you confused by the numbers in the Gulf? You can do the math if you like: 60,000 times 42 gallons times 63 days.

But if that's hard to conceptualize, as it is for some, Hank Ashbaugh, a chemical engineering professor at Tulane University, has calculated some easier-to-understand comparisons, NBC's Kerry Sanders reports from Grand Isle, La.

At a rate of 60,000 barrels of oil every 24 hours, the amount of oil that's gushed out in 63 days would fill:

• 17 percent of the volume of the Louisiana Superdome

• 20 Washington Monuments

• 245 Olympicsize swimming pools

• 50,000 dump trucks

Or, with a little New Orleans flair, he says:

• 2.6 billion Hurricane drinks (a favorite in the French Quarter)