"Bombshell expose'. The real reason the oil still flows into the Gulf of Mexico."
Posted on 06/02/2010 3:31:54 AM PDT by Scanian
BP's engineers can't stop the gushing oil spill, but a young genius from Long Island says she found the solution in less time than it takes most people to finish a crossword puzzle.
Since the "top kill," "junk shot" and "top hat" techniques failed to end the environmental nightmare, Alia Sabur -- who started her engineering Ph.D. at age 14 -- is pushing for a more radical idea.
The Northport native, who started reading before she could walk and who at 18 broke a 300-year-old record to become the youngest-ever college professor, proposes surrounding a pipe with deflated automobile tires, inserting it into the leaking riser, and then inflating the wheels to form a seal.
She calls the plan the "seabed retread."
"It's not completely out there, considering that tires are used for everything and they're expected to withstand a lot," Sabur, 21, told The Post.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
It is amazing that no company ever conceived of an inflatable pipe plug before or made one custom sized for a pipe or a specific application...
...snark...
Here’s the deal. Every day 5000 barrels of oil leaks into the Gulf from below the ocean floor. Why? Because it’s under so much pressure. Even with the weight of the ocean on top of it, it leaks. Now we have all that pressure focused on one point. First they are going to need to drill a few relief holes and get the oil flowing there to relieve the pressure and try to salvage some of this oil. In a few years, the Gulf, the coast , the marshes will be clean, thanks to nature, and all this oil will be gone. Wasted.
>>Air Impact Tool
See, there you go making it complicated again.
KISS
Self-contained electric-driven gears would be simpler.
Petroleum products decompose rubber. I don’t know about crude oil, though.
YEP! bttt
There aren’t enough books in the world to substitute for real experience.
>> Self-contained electric-driven gears would be simpler.
Of course! Why didn’t I think of that.
You should apply for a patent while your idea is still a secret!
>> Petroleum products decompose rubber...
... as any guy who used vaseline to lubricate the wrong kind of rubber will be telling his child a few years later...
The reason a submarine can’t go but so deep because of water pressure is that the sub’s interior pressure can not exceed what the crew can tolerate.
If you bring the pressure of the inside of a vessel up to the pressure outside, the crushing forces are zero.
So although there are a lot of reasons tires will not work, pressure is not one other than one would have to inflate them with a liquid that would not freeze and to an internal pressure that would grip an oil soaked pipe.
>>Why didn’t I think of that.
Untreatable Rectocranial Inversion?
I expect there are simple reasons why it wouldn’t work; but it’s still a better idea than Ms. Super Genius’s tires.
That makes sense. Hadn’t thought of that.
>> Untreatable Rectocranial Inversion?
Nah, I doubt it, I probably just had my head up my butt.
Yeah, I question the "genius" bit, too. On modern tubeless tires, the wheel, with its bead-retaining ridges, is an integral part of the closed air chamber. How does a "pipe" perform that function?
>> OK. There’s your leak. Here’s your water ballon. Begin plugging.
heh... that’s a great way to illustrate the problem. Very effective.
Say, you’re a better teacher than Ms. Genius; you’re beating her at her own game!
I am sure there is a reason, but I wonder why ther was not some sort of shut off valve located within the BOP stack that could be manipilated by a ROV?
Just because you post this multiple places.....it doesn’t make it true.
How about silicone?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.