Oil Spill Fix Idea | Hacker News Reader

Oil Spill Fix Idea

3 pointsholdenc8 comments

Here's the idea...

http://www.4freeimagehost.com/uploads/6e00961aeac9.jpg

1) Create a large cone made of some hard substance. It has a hole in the top, and get lowered over the leak. It's wide enough and heavy so that it seals the bottom to the ocean floor.

2) Oil comes out the top until the bottom is sealed off.

3) Once the bottom is sealed a pipe is attached to the top and oil (and some water) is pumped to the surface. This oil is contained at the surface.

4) Now that the oil is contained, the cone can be reinforced and made more permanent.

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They tried something vaguely like this with the big dome they tried to lower over it, didn't they? As I recall, a bunch of slushy hydrate ice started forming on the inside, clogging up the pipe and making the dome buoyant.

Here's a pretty good video showing that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIdufnmoeeY

The dome was pretty small and made of metal. It seems like if the dome was very large and heavy it would work.

My point in all of this is to argue that it's possible to contain the spill using a brute force combination of the cap's size, weight and shape. And that the reason that the spill has not yet been fixed in not due to it being un-fixable, but likely other factors.

Not only did they try it, they tried it 3 times.

Where are the Red Adairs of the 21st century? http://www.redadair.com/

Yes .. http://static.open.salon.com/files/coneheads1245765854.jpg

guarantee it's not that easy...

I am sure that my idea is gross oversimplification, but am also pretty sure that some variation of this would work just fine. It seems to me just a matter of making the cone larger or heavy enough.

Obviously it's not an easy problem to solve, but I guess I am wondering why.

Have you ever tried to hold on to a small air filled rubber ball and swim to the bottom of the deep end of a pool? Its impossible. Now think about how that is magnified 1 mile below the ocean. A small amount of buoyant hydrates create a lot of upward pressure.

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