Let me know if my calculations are badly off .........
Friday, June 18, 2010
Gulf Spill Equivalent to Peeing in the Thames ?
Lets see if I've got this correct........... The Gulf of Mexico holds 6.43 x 10^17 gal of water. The oil spill is leaking 1.3 x 10^8 gal per day That is a ratio of about 5 x 10^9 to 1, or 5,000,000,000 to one sea water to oil.
The Thames River at London flows about 1.25 x 10^9 gal per day If I pee'd in the Thames every day, I would add about 0.5 gal per day That is a ratio of about 2.5 x 10^9 to 1, or 2,500,000,000 to one river water to pee.
So if two of us pee'd in the Thames, we'd be polluting it the equivalent of the "disastrous" BP oil spill.
Let me know if my calculations are badly off .........
Let me know if my calculations are badly off .........
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which is more flammable? Crude oil + NaCl H2O
ReplyDeleteor urine and NaCl H2O. What is the magic ratio of flammability? Getting Close?
As with toxins, the danger is in the dosage.
ReplyDeleteIf the 60+ days crude eruption in the Gulf were mixed with the entire body of Gulf water the Flammability Ratio would be be incalculably small..... to the other extreme where undiluted crude lies on the surface the FR would be quite high.
By the way, as for urine in the Thames.... the ratio of urine to salt water would be extremely high as there is very little salt (only that from "other contributors" upstream of the donor!) in the Thames water until it reaches the ocean. But I know not the flammability of urine ..... I suppose it is virtually non-flammable .... I guess that is the point of your entire comment, the relevance of which escapes me.
I am not familiar with the term "Magic" Ratio of Flammability ..... only Critical ratio of Flammability and I have no knowledge of the CFR of either of these two examples.