more on Oil Independence?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Diana Cirillo <diana.cirillo () mail com>
Date: September 13, 2005 4:50:40 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: FW: [IP] more on Oil Independence?


From a mechanical engineer who did oil shale extraction research at  
MIT in
the early 80s...no, the ground wouldn't collapse.

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 1:38 PM
To: Diana Cirillo
Subject: RE: [IP] more on Oil Independence?

Not that you asked, but...

This "oil" is not at or near the surface.  The ground would no sooner
collapse than it does when conventional petroleum is pumped from the
ground. Some of the void would be filled with water or other byproducts
of combustion, but even if there are air or other gas spaces, the rock
above will support most open structures.

a.

-----Original Message-----
From: Diana Cirillo [mailto:diana.cirillo () mail com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 12:01 PM
To: J. Aaron Heintz
Subject: FW: [IP] more on Oil Independence?

Skip the calculations, but it ends with an interesting question.

D.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jack Holleran <jholleran () comcast net>
Date: September 12, 2005 10:36:16 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: [IP] Oil Independence?

Dave,

I'm using the following numbers according to the article below.

1 billion barrels in a square mile.

One URL defined a barrel as being 34 inches high with a diameter of 24
inches.  (I'm not sure if this is right or wrong, but for the purpose of
calculations, I used it.)

One mile is 5280 feet.

Using a spread sheet, a barrel produces a volume of 8.901 cubic feet.
(height(34) x radius(12) x radius * PI)

A billion barrels would then produce 8,901,000,000 cubic feet of oil.

A square mile is 5280 x 5280 = 27,878,400 square feet.

The volume equals length x width x depth AND the length x width is
27,878,400 feet; there is an implication that the depth is 319
feet(typical
two story house is probably 25 feet high, including a peaked roof; so
depth
is 12-13 houses stacked or a 32 story building).  Now if the dimensions
of
the barrel are larger, the depth will be deeper; correspondingly,
smaller
dimensions, less depth.

My question is will the ground collapse since 8.9 billion cubic feet of
material has been removed in that square mile.

Jack Holleran CISSP





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