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 ...
I’m half tempted to go see what crazy man Alex Jones is saying but I’m pretty sure I could make an educated guess.
Pressure equals depth times 15 divided by 33 pressure (lbs-per-sq-in) = depth(ft) * 15(lbs-per-square-inch-per-atm) / 33(ft-per-atm) For example, if you go 66ft down under water, thats 30psi pressure. For one mile down (5280 feet), calculate: 5280 * 15 / 33 = 2400 psi (over a ton per square inch!)
To inflate the tire would take over 2000 PSI, about what is in a scuba tank. If you got it inflated it would have to overcome 7000 PSI of oil pressure through friction on the pipe walls.
If the oil pressure wasn't significantly greater than the water pressure water would be flowing down the well, pushing the oil back.
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