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Scientists Attempt To Calm Volcano
An anonymous reader writes "Since May 2006, a mud volcano in Indonesia has spewed out up to 126,000 cubic metres of mud a day, flooding an area of more than 4 square kilometres. This unprecedented natural disaster has become so bad that geophysicists now plan to enact an untested scheme to try and slow the flow: dropping concrete balls into the volcano."
This unprecedented natural disaster has become so bad that geophysicists now plan to enact an untested scheme to try and slow the flow: dropping concrete balls into the volcano.
They've got a lot of balls, trying something like that.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
I'm sure you can find plenty here *looks around nervously*
Monstar L
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
There may be some truth to that:
o w
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidoarjo_mud_flow#Fl
Looks like the mud flow started eminating from an exploratory well
As one of the physicists said "The mud will find another way out". Maybe if they plug the hole, enough pressure will build up to cause a real eruption.
These events happen for a reason. It's the planet's way of staying in balance.
I like how the locals blame the oil companies on the volcano erupting.
Actually, someone fed the Volcano God some cheese. Sherman's lactose intolerant.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Ever have a bottle of soda suddenly start spraying? How well does sticking your thumb over the nozzle help?
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
They want to drop concrete balls into it? Do you take concrete balls when you have an upset stomach? Me neither. What they need is a dump truck full of Tums and a concrete mixer full of Mylanta. If that doesn't work you can always use a virgin. But concrete balls? These "scientists" need to get a real scientist--a witch doctor. They're witches and they're doctors. That's a lot of school. And if they can't fix it you can just throw them in there and save your concrete balls for outside a library or something.
Swi
Is it just my filthy internet-corrupted mind, or did anyone else immediately think "dog in a bathtub"
No I'm not linking, go and look it up if you must
j'ai découvert une démonstration vraiment admirable (de ce théorème général) que cette si
Like I always say:
There's pretty much nothing that can't be accomplished if you have big enough balls.
Teabagging a volcano...
Sounds like a good way to turn a shield volcano into a stratovolcano.
The milk jug analogy is flawed. With holes in the bottom of a milk jug, it's just gravity that lets the water pour out under the force of its own weight, so yes, plugging one hole, or plugging the hole halfway, reduces the rate of flow and doesn't change the pressure -- because there's no pressure in the first place.
Hook up a garden hose to the milk jug and then try it, though, and you've got an entirely different situation. Now you can turn the jug _over_, so that the holes are on the top, and you'll still get water squirting out, just like mud flowing *up* out of a volcano, against gravity. Plug one of the holes in the jug then, and you will indeed get more flow out the other hole.
If the article accurately describes their strategy, they're only going to make matters worse, not better.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Here in L.A., we diverted the flows on Wilshire into the Ballona Creek using concrete barriers... oh wait, that also was a movie.
Chuck Norris's balls.
I don't know why I said that.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Last November they were tossing in live chickens and goats......
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
So they demonstrated their theory using a water bottle with two holes cut in the bottom, and showed how covering one hole slowed the rate of water leaving the bottle. That's all good and fine, but we're talking about water that's responding to the force of gravity, not pent-up pressure and geothermal heating. If the weight of the balls can counteract that, great, but if that's their idea of a physically accurate analogy, I think they might be in for some surprises. Here's hoping it works, anyway, despite their faulty physics.
"Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day; set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life
The opposing viewpoint shown in the article reminds me of the 6th networking truth:
"It is easier to move a problem around (for example, by moving the problem to a different part of the overall network architecture) than it is to solve it." --RFC1925
X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
Ok, I'll bite. The oil company drilled a borehole next to the volcano. When the borehole exploded it provided a vent for the mud to flow out of. According to This site the oil company was not following standard operating procedure designed to minimize the risk of this kind of event.
Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further development.-- Frontinus, 1st cent. AD
So how, exactly, is this any different from the traditional volcano-god appeasement technique of throwing hundreds of naked virgins into the volcano? Apart from being less exciting.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Aren't we missing the most obvious solution here?
We are geeks after all. And we know what will calm a volcano.
V I R G I N S
O.K., I need 3 Linux nerds, and 3 Linux nerdettes (come on, you know, you mention Linux at a party, you ain't getting laid).
Volunteers?
Free trip to Indonesia.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
Have they tried burping it? It might have a little gas trapped it its belly. That and a story should get it to calm right down.
best off with more government controls. Unless you want "real" freedom...
Kharma is like a boomerang. Mine is broken.
I may agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to face the consequences of saying it.
The think best effect this might have should be compared with a percolator coffee pot. Their approach is trying to reach a different means but it could have a positive effect for other reasons. And I beleive the solution they are trying is simular to the same process of a percolator even though they are only trying to block the channel the mud is comming from..
Now, If you examine a percolator you will notice a tube with a wide part at the bottom and narrower at the top. The large surface area of the heated part bring water to boiling wich then forces some up into the tube, Once the water burst out the top, it tips the tube letting fresh cooler water in to repeat the process. This volcano is simlar because it is spewing hot mud and not "hot lava". It probably isn't an actual erupting volcano in the sence that hot lava is in the bottom of the hole either. It is likley just a layer of bedrock or something with ground water sitting close by heated to an extreamly high temperature.
Imagine taking rocks and placing them in the bottom of the tube to displace as much water as possible were the heating element is. the reaction is going to be less water heated and spouted to the top. Eventualy the rocks will heat to some degree but the flow of water will also cool them so they sholdn't get as hot as the heating element.
The effect is that this volcano will take less water and materials in and push less of the same out. I don't think it will actualy plug the hole and slow/stop it from happening if it has any effect at all. Once more material is in the hole, Materials that make up the mud will also coat the balls proving an insulation layer that should slow the movment to the water even more from the change in heat disapation.
The scary part is that the push for enviromentaly friendly energy is running to a proccess simular to whats happening here. Geothermal electricity production can be done by drilling 4 or so miles into the earth were the heat is about 400 degrees and then pumping a coolant liquid into a heat echanger and the resulting steam would power generators. But we are purposing drilling deep enough and close enough to heat that we could run the risk of starting much of the same thing.
would be to explode a deeply placed high explosive device, in the range of kilotons. The idea is to breakup the the flow channels, and let it collapse on itself and clog itself up. The explosive does not have to be nuclear, but it needs to be both large and deeply located. Correct placement would help as well.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Your percolator analogy still has little to do with the mud volcano's processes. The percolator works because the water vapour bubbles upwards and induces motion in the surrounding liquid. By bringing the heat into the process you're only confusing the issue as dissolved gasses have very little to do with it.
Instead of using a percolator, imagine a waterbed covered with books. The water in the bed is the mud layer, the membrane containing the water is the clay layer, and the books represent the earth above the clay. Once the membrane containing the water is pierced, the weight of the books forces the water out much as the weight of the earth is now forcing the water out of the bed. Now imagine that the water in the bed erodes the hole once it has been made making the problem worse.
To stop a percolator, turn off the heat. To fix a leaky waterbed, you need to patch the liner or wait until all the water drains out.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue