Posted on 04/18/2011 6:12:10 AM PDT by Red Badger
A new computational study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals how hydrocarbons may be formed from methane in deep Earth at extreme pressures and temperatures.
The thermodynamic and kinetic properties of hydrocarbons at high pressures and temperatures are important for understanding carbon reservoirs and fluxes in Earth.
The work provides a basis for understanding experiments that demonstrated polymerization of methane to form high hydrocarbons and earlier methane forming reactions under pressure.
Hydrocarbons (molecules composed of the elements hydrogen and carbon) are the main building block of crude oil and natural gas. Hydrocarbons contribute to the global carbon cycle (one of the most important cycles of Earth that allows for carbon to be recycled and reused throughout the biosphere and all of its organisms).
[snip]
Geologists and geochemists believe that nearly all (more than 99 percent) of the hydrocarbons in commercially produced crude oil and natural gas are formed by the decomposition of the remains of living organisms, which were buried under layers of sediments in Earth's crust, a region approximately 5-10 miles below Earth's surface.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Mmmmmmmmm, juicy caboosies.
With my Geology degree in hand, I have a difficult time believing that crude is found outside of sediments.
The premise of this story is difficult for me to buy into;
What say you guys?
I agree with you.
But I get tired of discussing the point with people on Free Republic that don’t even understand what sedimentary rock is and how it is formed from the surface.
Also, in the refinery, we use heat and pressure to break down crude oil into simpler, smaller hydrocarbon molecules, not the reverse.
For any that think differently than that, they should try applying the math of our current consumption rate times a few hundred million years.
The volume would suggest if that was possible, the problem would not be finding oil, but how to keep from drowning in it.
Who’s to say that crude oil cannot be formed in several different ways.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat and make Chinese food.............
FWIW, I have less than no idea what I’m talking about :)
From what I’ve read, I understand that at one time there was actually very little oxygen roaming around the atmosphere, it was mostly CO2. As the plants got their foothold, the oxygen was freed, (kind of all at once, relatively speaking) to the extent that all of the iron in the oceans oxidized at once (relatively) giving us that band of red rock that can be found all over the earth. You can see it in Eastern Pennsylvania, where the very old mountains are showing us their roots. That had to be A LOT of plants to release that much oxygen.
And the conditions don’t have to be perfect all over the earth. Those perfect conditions move around the earth as the climate changes (and I don’t mean that in the evil climate change way!!).
To grab hold of these time periods, think about the Rocky Mountains, which are young, they were born 80-55 million years ago. The earth is 4.6 billion years old. (It helps me to refer to a billion as 1000 million....so the earth is 4600 million years old, and the rockies only 55 million.) (So I get really irritated at global warming people, ‘cause I want to know what the heck melted the glaciers 12 THOUSAND years ago.)
I’m babbling, I know I’m babbling. Just remember that the rain forests are happily decomposing, and an awful lot of the coal came from shallow seas filled with seaweed.
Oh, this is not to say I don’t believe that the earth could be cranking out oil all by itself. Enough pressure, and I’m guessing you could rearrange those carbon chains any darned way you want to!
Your mileage may vary! I do love this stuff, though!
The compacted matter is far greater than we have pumped out. We have plenty of oil and will for the foreseeable future.
We just need a Prez who will give the OK to drill. There is one on the horizon who will do so as she is very aware of the situation we are in with oil.
You have a geology degree? I’m so jealous!
Seeing is believing, and when the day comes that there is a clear instance of abiogenic crude oil (without migration from other sedimentary formations), I'll gladly study it and maybe even believe it--if the evidence indicates that is the case.
In the meantime 'recharging' oil wells may have been merely coned in by overproduction and recovered after twenty years or so of sitting stagnant, or be 'recharged' along migration pathways (usually faults) by a deeper sedimentary reservoir. (Why drill deeper if you are getting the oil anyway?)
And yes, I have a degree in Geology and I've been examining drilled samples and cores on wellsites for over 30 years.
I’m trying out my new dirt thermos today. Dirt has kept the center of the earth hot for billions of years, so I figure it can keep my coffee warm for a day.
Already having trouble with the dirt thermos. Poured coffee into the middle of a pile of dirt and then covered it with more dirt. Coffee became thick...almost chewy. Maybe I can make oil.
Perhaps you should try civet coffee..........
Indeed. That piece of info is/was a significant datum on the "scam" scenario in my mind. How does one run a scam when only their own money is involved, and (in essence) in front of the whole internet viewership? Another interesting tidbit is that one of the Swedish physicists who were "in person" at the most recent demo is or was head of the "Swedish Skeptics Society". And "he" was convinced by what he saw.
There is a LONG thread over on "Talk-Polywell" (dedicated mostly to Bussard's approach to "hot" fusion) with a few dedicated naysayers. But looking over what has been published about the various Rossi demos, most of their objections just don't hold up. I don't claim to begin to have the physics background to make theoretical distinctsions, but I'm a pretty darned good experimentalist, and what is shown looks legit.
In the absence of a catalyst, yes. But toss in one (or several) catalysts, and the picture changes completely, which is what this article is all about. Normally forbidden or "small percentage" product scenarios then become practical.
I’m sure Salazar wil make those off -limits ,too.
I thought catalyst were used to speed up a reaction, not reverse it.
Oil does seem to show up where plates collide.
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