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Posted by D Sherman [24.19.162.43] on Saturday, June 05, 2010 at 12:15:36 :
In Reply to: Re: BP Oil Well posted by Dave Speed [24.49.106.233] on Saturday, June 05, 2010 at 10:37:34 :
That's only true of gasses. Liquids don't expand or compress under pressure so their temperature doesn't drop when you release the pressure. However, gasses in solution come out of solution when the pressure is released (the principle in pop bottles and geysers). The "oil" coming out of the well is a mixture of oil, water, and gas, and as the pressure is released, the dissolved gas comes out as gas bubbles, and a surge of gas is what caused the initial explosion and fire.
Also, we don't know how far down into the reservoir they were when the accident happened. As I understand it, there is usually a "gas cap" on top of the oil in any oil field, and a layer of salt water underneath the oil. They try to maintain the gas cap as long as possible, by sucking oil from underneath it, because the gas helps pressurize the field. It could be the gas cap that blew out the well as soon as they hit it, and then only after the gas was blown out did the oil start gushing. The oil is brown rather than black, which makes me think it's an emulsion of oil, water, and perhaps small gas bubbles.
The good news is as of today, the jerry-rigged coupling is holding and they're recovering some of the oil. The bad news is the oil is washing ashore and the government is still not letting anyone build sand berms to protect the coast. It's like Obama wants the environmental damage to be as bad as possible.