Bubbling seas can sink ships [Bermuda Triangle Explained?]

New Scientist ^ | 26 September 01 | Joanna Marchant

[aculeus]

DID IT HAPPEN IN 2000?

[Free the USA]

Once the methane escapes into the air it could bring down a low flying plane by exploding on passing through the engine.

[EricT.]

Hmmmm......I thought that methane bubbles only occurred in the bathtub on chili night.

[KirklandJunction]

Thanks for this post, this is the brain exercise stuff that I come here for.
Fascinating!
Now, to inject humor, largely because I have child-like siblings all over the house, I've got to connect the scientific use of methane gas with the incessant babbling going on around me.
To sink Bin Laden's navy, how do we get my cows to fart underwater?
Seriously, thanks for this post.

[marigold]

If they're going to find a way to transport methane to a spot underneath a target ship, maybe they could also sort of introduce a spark........if the goal is to sink the ship, rather than just debate science. Hmmm?

[MHGinTN]

Layers of methane hydrates exist with huge pockets of methane gas below them. When the hydrates (the more solid congealed form of methane and salt water) break open from a slide or quake, a large volume of methane gas can be released. An oil derrick in the Gulf of Mexico sank from such a gas release, if memory serves. The buoyancy of the floating medium changes dramatically with gas mixed ture in salt water.

[marigold]

Okay, you got me curious now. Would the bubbles need to be methane, or would ordinary air bubbles work as well? Assuming there is no explosion involved.

Carting a load of air around underwater sounds safer and more environmentally-friendly than a load of methane.

[steamroller]

This sounds suspiciously like high school physics-not a strong subject for me.I will now have a "test coming up/didn't study" nightmare (LOL)

[Diddle E. Squat]

Yeah, but Mother Nature farting doesn't explain all those missing planes. (Remember those 5 military planes in WWII?)

I say it's either the aliens or related to the question "Who is John Gault?"

[Critter]

You may be onto something. lol!

[MHGinTN]

Any gass will do. We have means by which solids can be mixed to produce huge free quantities of gases, but in war, forget the environmentally freindly crap ... war is inherently environmentally dangerous.

[Hillary 666]

Hmmmm......I thought that methane bubbles only occurred in the bathtub on chili night.

LOL!!

Watch out for that chili AND beer. That's an explosive combination!

[MHGinTN]

Where the heck is my tinfoil?! Arggghhh

[Erasmus]

To sink Bin Laden's navy, how do we get my cows to fart underwater?

Years ago, some of my colleagues at a military electronics lab were looking in the manual that covers the uniform (JAN) coding system for naming technical materiel. For example, one of the radar displays we were working on was designated the SPA-25, where "SPA" somehow meant "Shipborne Display, Radar."

They noticed that if you had, say, a "BBB-3", it would mean "Underwater Bombing Pigeon, Mark III."

So it would not surprise me if there was already a designation available for "Underwater Farting Cow."

[Denver Ditdat]

Sure, anything you say, buddy... (backing away slowly)

[aculeus]

Thanks for this post, this is the brain exercise stuff that I come here for.

So, did you like the 'cockroach' thread?