Live Oil Leak Cam!

[mendhak]

I have no idea how long this has been live and no idea how much longer it's going to be around, but...

http://edition.cnn.com/video/flashLi...stream=stream3

They're sawing stuff right now. I have no idea what they're doing but it's fascinating watching all that gunk spilling out.

[abhijit]

I wonder how deep that camera is.

[baja_yu]

It looks like they're working on the Titanic.

[pcuser]

It looks like they're working on the Titanic.

Maybe that's why the oil leak isn't getting fixed?

[dbasnett]

192.168.33.80

When I looked this morning it was trying to connect.

[vbforever23]

BP should consider creating a "best of" video, to show us clips of when something is actually happening.

Looking at oil leaking 24/7 gets a bit boring.

[storm5510]

I guess none of you watch the news or read a newspaper?

The camera is 5,000 feet down, give or take a little. The pressure is about a ton (2,000 pounds) per square inch.

Look at your thumbnail. That's about a square inch. Imagine a ton, a car, sitting on that small area. I believe you would get the point, very rapidly...

[MaximilianMayrhofer]

It's horrifying. The sheer quantity of oil being pumped into the ocean. We really are without a doubt the single most destructive species on this planet. And we're idiots to boot.

Also, silly question, why haven't they just put a pipe over the leak?

[NeedSomeAnswers]

Also, silly question, why haven't they just put a pipe over the leak?

Yes that is a silly question, ever heard of Pressure ?

[MaximilianMayrhofer]

Gorsh, in all my study of physics I has never come across such a concept. Howevorz, there are wayz to get past this problem that have been done b4.

[NeedSomeAnswers]

The problem they have is all the solutions that work perfectly well on the surface dont deep under water as you not only have the pressure of the escaping oil (and of course the sea pressure) but you have to deal with extreme temperature.

They have in fact now "put a pipe over the leak" but because of the pressure they still have to leave vents open which means they are not capturing all the oil.

I am sure due to how much this is costing BP everyday if they had an easy way to stop it they would have done so by now.

[JuggaloBrotha]

Can't they just shut off the pipe? Like the safety value before the leak? That works wonders in my bathroom...

[baja_yu]

Maybe they should throw a lot of animals around the leak. I'm sure the fur and feathers would soak up the oil nicely.

[NeedSomeAnswers]

Can't they just shut off the pipe? Like the safety value before the leak?

Slight problem with that is their version of a safety valve (the blow-out preventer) broke too.

Have non of you even watched the news ?

Did none of you see the pathetic attempt of BP, Transocean & Haliburton to all blame each other for the cheap repair job that was carried out on the safety valve (blow-out preventer) which failed to work.

[storm5510]

Can't they just shut off the pipe? Like the safety value before the leak? That works wonders in my bathroom...

No, they can't do it that way. It's the same basic principle as shutting off a fire hydrant. You never see a fire department close those rapidly. If they snapped that shut all at once, it would probably blow the hydrant sky high. There would be a tremendous pressure spike right at the valve. All that mass of water moving must be slowed slowly, and not all at once.

The oil in the well is coming up from 18,000 feet below the sea floor. It is also under tremendous pressure, on the order of 5,000 PSI. The water pressure on the sea floor is nullifying part of that, but not all. They can restrict it, but not stop it at the top. They must plug it at the bottom.

All of this has to do with mass and velocity, and I'm no physicist, so I can't speak to this process beyond common sense, and what I have seen on TV in news reports.

[mendhak]

America's nearby, they could throw a few gas guzzlers down there.

[MaximilianMayrhofer]

They must plug it at the bottom.

Pressure at all points in a liquid column is the same. Basic fluid mechanics. It is irrelevant where you 'plug' the leak.

[storm5510]

Pressure at all points in a liquid column is the same. Basic fluid mechanics. It is irrelevant where you 'plug' the leak.

That's not what I am hearing the oil people say. I agree that pressure at all points would be the same, when it is moving or standing still. Not if you try to interrupt it rapidly in a place where the external pressure is much less.

Example: A 4" diameter compressed air line. The last place I worked had those everywhere. They also had emergency shut-off ball-valves at regular intervals in case of a breakage. I was told, under no circumstance, that a valve with a discharging air stream be closed rapidly. Doing so could cause the main feed line to rupture, dramatically, immediately behind the valve. This came from an industrial engineer with over 20 years experience. I took his word for it as I would like to keep my fingers, hands, and whatever else.

[MaximilianMayrhofer]

What you're describing is the result of a momentary creation of a vacuum caused when a pressurised flow is suddenly cut off. The volume of liquid still flowing on the free side of the obstruction creates a momentary vacuum at the boundary, resulting in extreme overpressure behind the valve. This is the main reason why things like hydrant valves have to be closed slowly.

My point was not so much about how quickly the leak should be plugged, only that where in the pipe it is plugged is not really relevant to pressure.

[NeedSomeAnswers]

My point was not so much about how quickly the leak should be plugged, only that where in the pipe it is plugged is not really relevant to pressure.

I for Top Kill what they were trying to do was insert a column of mud & junk on top of the leak in the hope that it would block the pipe and therefore the oil, and i believe that it is easier to do that by inserting the mud part way down the pipe and let some of rise up than to try inserting the mud in the very top and force it down.