Gulf Gusher Worst Case Scenario

An anonymous reader writes "Here's a listing of several scientific and economic guides for estimating the volume of flow of the leak in the Gulf of Mexico erupting at a rate of somewhere around 1 million barrels per day. A new video released shows the largest hole spewing oil and natural gas from an aperture 5 feet in diameter at a rate of approximately 4 barrels per second. The oil coming up through 5,000 feet of pressurized salt water acts like a fractionating column. What you see on the surface is just around 20% of what is actually underneath the approximate 9,000 square miles of slick on the surface. The natural gas doesn't bubble to the top but gets suspended in the water, depleting the oxygen from the water. BP would not have been celebrating with execs on the rig just prior to the explosion if it had not been capable producing at least 500,000 barrels per day — under control. If the rock gave way due to the out-of-control gushing (or due to a nuke being detonated to contain the leak), it could become a Yellowstone Caldera type event, except from below a mile of sea, with a 1/4-mile opening, with up to 150,000 psi of oil and natural gas behind it, from a reserve nearly as large as the Gulf of Mexico containing trillions of barrels of oil. That would be an Earth extinction event."

Comments

Re:Just Think..

[Anonymous Coward]

So BP fucking up is the fault of the anti-nuclear movement? Great thinking.

If we didn't use such energy-inefficient appliances/vehicles/facilities, we wouldn't need the oil either.
If we didn't live this wasteful cosumation-oriented lifestyle...
If there weren't so many of us...
If Adam and Eve hadn't copulated...
If God hadn't created...

Thank you very much, God. Asshole...

Paul is ahead of the class, not behind

[sterlingda]

I remember when an article by Paul Noel was linked from Slashdow in Oct. 26, 2005 called "Wilma the Capacitor", in which he said: "Energetically speaking, the vortex that forms in these storms is also a natural particle accelerator, and a massive capacitor bank. As the harmonic circuit develops, it resonates acoustically and functions as a capacitor, extracting the heat from the storm and transmitting it away. Without this electrical circuit, the storm would fail almost instantly due to the accumulation of heat from condensation of water."

You all thought he was crazy and you were all so smart for pointing that Science Daily published an article on April 14, 2010 titled: "Giant Natural Particle Accelerator Above Thunderclouds". Now its official science.

Are you still laughing?

He was right, you were wrong.

No, he isn't just a software engineer, whose dad encoded the software that put the first astronauts on the moon.

Here is what he wrote this morning to me in a moment of reflection:

It isn't possible that I know what I am talking about is it?



For the record.

I hold 3 college degrees with about 240 Semester Hours including Physics (Including calculus based), Chemistry (Organic, Inorganic, analytic, Qantitative and Qualitative , Accounting, Computer Science, Microbiology, Biology, Accounting, Business, Nursing, and much more). Most PhD's have far less than I hold. I was doing College level Chemistry by 5th Grade. I was doing rocketry, mapping and a lot more before high school. I was breeding plants before I was 11. I don't do it now but I know what is going on. My favorite sciences are agriculture and chemistry. My bedroom was a radio station for 8 years (Ham) during the time I built transmitters, antenna and receivers.

I have done extensive exhaustive studies on public education and what works and doesn't work. I have done extensive work on electronics design and embedded programming.

I have traveled 40 US States and 4 foreign countries.

During my work in Mobile County a typical day might take me as far as Washington County or Dauphin Island. I have worked for months on Dauphin Island and the region around it where the Oil industry works out of.

I am not really wanting to publish all of this. I sort of hate credentials stuff. I figure if the facts don't carry the day it is all a lie anyway.

I just though you might like to know.



So before you go jumping all over this story and dismissing things, do some digging. You just might find out that he is actually far ahead of the curve. He knows as much as most industry experts. The difference? He's not afraid to talk.

Re:Paul is ahead of the class, not behind

[sterlingda]

I didn't say he was an expert because of what his Dad did. I said he's brilliant and the kind of person who is way ahead of the class. Who his dad is contributed to that. Look at how far ahead he was of the slashdot crowd on the "Wilma the Capacitor" story published in 2006 at http://pesn.com/2005/10/25/9600196_Wilma_Capacitor/ just recently confirmed by science in April http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100413202850.htm He was totally lambasted by people such as you in Slashdot in 2006 http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/26/1158233&tid=232&tid=14

Ecoterrorist!

[Benfea]

Glenn Beck told me that environmentalism is the same thing as being a Nazi. Why do you hate America? Why do you hate our freedom? [/teabagger]