maybe a bit morbid

"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012) 05/06/2020 at 09:23 • Filed to: None

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Been thinking about the whole oil  price going negative and my mind wondered off into the wilderness.

Oil is created when living organism dies, decays and is pressurized under ground’s weight.

If they were cremating dinosaurs and all other living things 20 million years ago, would we have oil today?

Could we speed up the process of creating oil by pressurizing dead organisms now?

Can I make a diamond out of grandma?

HELP. It’s a rabbit hole. Can I make a diamond out of a rabbit?

E90M3 > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 09:29

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Don’t forget heat, but I think one main component was time. 

dumpsterfire! > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 09:32

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yes, you can make a diamond out of grandma. probably best if she is already gone though.

https://www.lonite.com/cremation-ashes-into-diamonds/

jimz > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 09:52

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oil prices didn’t go “negative” in general; what happened is that investors who were holding oil futures that were coming “due” either had to sell those futures or take actual delivery of the physical oil.  With nowhere to store the actual oil they were dumping the futures at a loss just to get rid of them.  

TheRealBicycleBuck > jimz 05/06/2020 at 09:55

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A friend of mine learned that lesson the hard way. He was caught up in a drop in soybean prices. He tried to sell me his SCUBA gear to help cover his losses. :)

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 09:59

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Pressurizing organic matter wouldn’t work. The laws of entropy still apply- production of crude oil from organic mass still loses energy. It’s only a productive means of making energy because we didn’t do the work to make the crude- we just found it.

PartyPooper2012 > dumpsterfire! 05/06/2020 at 10:09

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Well, all the grandmas are gone, but some were cremated... which grandma would make a bigger diamond? Non cremated, or cremated? 

PartyPooper2012 > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 05/06/2020 at 10:12

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So kinda like 20 dollars you find in your pants? Somehow you lost 20 dollars before and you were upset a little... but then found it some time later and are doubly as happy

We didn’t really lose dinosaurs. We just placed them under ground for 20 million years and then dug em up. Were surprised to find oil and not dinosaurs though. Aliens

DipodomysDeserti > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 05/06/2020 at 10:18

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It’s not quite the same process, but it is similar, and has been done. It’s still cheaper to pull it out of the ground, and these processes has never been scaled up as far as I know.

(Kroger, et al., 2014)

https://doi.org/10.4155/bfs.12.14

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 10:18

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Most of those living organisms that died so long ago are plants and microorganisms, but yeah, if they cremated every organism when it died before it decomposed, there would be no oil in the ground.

Yes, you can, with enough heat and pressure , but it would be prohibitively expensive (the oil).

https://newatlas.com/algae-crude-oil-process-pnnl/30235/

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > dumpsterfire! 05/06/2020 at 10:21

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One of the minor characters in Ozark proposes to his girlfriend with a diamond made from his mom’s remains.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 05/06/2020 at 10:24

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The energy density, portability and store-ability of liquid hydrocarbons is hard to beat... With the current oversupply situation (present before this health crises), it’s going to be very hard for alternatives to make a dent.

Wind power generation had been making great strides, though.

PartyPooper2012 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/06/2020 at 10:26

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That character is a weirdo... not because of the diamond thing... but a weirdo

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > E90M3 05/06/2020 at 10:27

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catagenesis_(geology)

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 10:28

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catagenesis_(geology)

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 10:29

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Definitely.

E90M3 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/06/2020 at 10:29

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Thought I learned a little about reservoir engineering at some point.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 10:35

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The specific circumstances to create crude oil likely will never exist again. The micro-organisms that contribute today to organic decay didn’t exist back then. Organic matter today would simply rot before it has a chance to break down into hydrocarbons.

Just Jeepin' > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 05/06/2020 at 10:40

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I recall seeing a headline a year or two ago indicating it was likely there was some other circumstance required to generate the oil we use that’s  unlikely to be replicated, even on other life-bearing planets, but I can’t remember anything else and can’t find it.

Regardless, this seems like it’s Earth’s only shot at getting the stars (any future civilization won’t have easy energy to bootstrap) so let’s not screw this up.

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 10:50

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It’s hard to describe but it would be like discovering say $20 in the ground created naturally and all you need a $5 shovel to dig it up. But to create the $20 bill man made you would need a $1000 press and the paper/ink is $40 per every $20 bill.

Basically to create the oil by unnatural means requires a huge amount more oil (energy) in the first place.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > TheRealBicycleBuck 05/06/2020 at 11:09

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So...now you’re winning a second time over scoring super cheap deals on flights to the Seychelles? 

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/06/2020 at 11:11

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I read recently that windmill farms were pulling enough energy out of the atmosphere to effect the climate in the immediate area around the windmill farm.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 05/06/2020 at 11:19

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Pretty crazy.

More warming! Sigh...

https://phys.org/news/2012-04-farms-temperature-region.html

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/06/2020 at 11:25

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Energy: there’s no free lunch.

ranwhenparked > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 11:30

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Well, it does seem like he had a somewhat messed up childhood, Agnes Skinner/Norma Bates-style mother. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 05/06/2020 at 11:38

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No, sir. I watch a documentary on Netflix about Bill Gates’ recent work. Pretty interesting. One part was about nuclear energy and new work he’s funded on it.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/06/2020 at 11:44

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Did the documentary include tips on not building nuke plants next to the water on the Pacific Ring of Fire so that tsunamis can inundate them?

My bird IS the word > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/06/2020 at 11:46

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https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/compact-fusion.html

Pretty please let this work

imadick > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 11:48

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No, it’s more like you found $20 in someone else’s pants.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 05/06/2020 at 11:59

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Yeah... They actually did a whole new design, that doesn’t need any action done to prevent catastrophe - current nuclear power plants all use 60 year old technology. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > My bird IS the word 05/06/2020 at 12:11

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Yes, please.

Watch the nuclear design episode of the Bill Gates doc on Netflix if you’re interesting about this stuff.

PartyPooper2012 > ranwhenparked 05/06/2020 at 12:20

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I grew up fist fighting a black and white TV set. No internet or phone. When we sent mail, we had to wax stamp it.

And I think he is a weirdo. 

PartyPooper2012 > Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com 05/06/2020 at 12:22

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You know, back in the day we used to chase lions with sticks and then rub same sticks to make fire to cook lion.... TOOK FOREVERRR

My point here is that surely we can evolve and improve the process.... if we wanted to. 

PartyPooper2012 > imadick 05/06/2020 at 12:23

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Well, you know what they say

Finders keepers

Lo sers suck

imadick > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 12:46

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With oil the losers are dead anyways

GLiddy > PartyPooper2012 05/06/2020 at 13:03

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The most common energy utilized by man is chemical energy. It is stored in covalent bonds between atoms and that is predominately organic in nature . Organic in this context means Carbon. Carbon bonds...the chemistry of Carbon. So fossil fuels, biomass, and biofuels all ultimately obtained their bond energy from one source. The Sun.

Unless you are fueling your conversion of materials into usable fuels with solar, nuclear or biomass , then you are at a fossil fuel energy deficit. You are using more fossil fuels to make fuels. This is why America is so stupid to act like we are so environmentally conscious when all we are doing is converting coal and diesel plants to gas and taking nuclear offline and replacing them with gas.

The ultimate solution...if it is ever worked out and can be done at scale would be some kind of solar powered catalytic process that could turn raw materials like atmospheric CO2 and water to a usable fuel. (Oddly, industrial CO2 is produced from natural gas.  Fractional separation of CO2 from liquified air is far too inefficient).  Until then we have to depend on the miracle of photosynthesis to create chemical energy from sunlight and rid the earth of CO2.  When natural gas runs out, we will be toast.