Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for July 01, 2010

I thought they were all stoners.

They’ll need to be printing up new placemats daily to keep up.

But where are those deep plumes of oil? They could be traveling completely differently than the surface slicks. We may find out by “accident” where they have gone.

If you’re still having problems with crabs, try the purple ointment.

I wish I got this kind of reassurance when I order the Mexican pizza.

I used to like my “sardines packed in oil,” but now I don’t want oil on any of my food–not even my salad!

NAPAERIC We cross horns twice in a day . Question: Which is heavier, oil or water? This used to be on the intelligence test with milk and cream. Therefore, which floats on the other? Quick, are you smarter than a 5th grader.? I have heard this rumor for weeks. When I was a kid, the cream was at the top of the milk bottle. Maybe they changed physics and didn’t tell us. Fill your bath, pour in a can of 40 weight, and get back to us.

Lew, the dispersants do tend to cause the oil to break up and sink by bonding with the globules. In my humble opinion, the use of dispersants tends to make a large spill worse since it makes oil collection much harder.

I saw this on the bathroom wall in the airport at Houston,

“Don’t bother standing on the seat, Texas crabs can jump 10 feet!”

For seafood, there are only five words that can reassure me at this time: “Alaskan King Crab,” and “Maine Lobster.”

Even then, I’m going for the nachos.

Another thing to consider, Lewreader, is that this oil has been under tremendous pressure and is highly compressed. Its density is much greater than it would be in a can of oil at sea level. In addition, motor oil may have a chain of 12-20 carbon atoms while crude oil frequently has much longer (and therefore, heavier) carbon chains. Comparing refined motor oil at sea level with crude oil coming out of the earth 5,000 feet below sea level is akin to comparing limes and watermelons. Just not the same.

Ok, you guys are getting way too intelligent for me.

Lew is smarter than yew.

BP stands for those extra healthy “by products” that all your fish comes with…already broiled right in the ocean…it is more than enough to turn your stomach…gives new meaning to sea sick…truly..get rid of your gas guzzlers

@ TexTech -

You’re right about the length of the carbon chains - while short-chain hydrocarbons (the stuff you find in gasoline or motor oil) are less dense than water, longer-chain hydrocarbons can be denser than seawater and can sink to the bottom or get mixed up in the water. So the ecological damage is going to be hard to track.

However, unless you’re dealing with the pressures inside a neutron star or the like, pressure is not going to noticeably compress a liquid.

Lew, remind me never to use your bathroom if I visit. Plenty of eco evidence shows some of it settles into the ocean floor naturally as it comes ashore, diluted by the effect of SEA WATER not bath water.

Nola, I agree about the treatments. So does the EPA who keeps telling BP they can’t use the stuff they are using. And letting BP keep using it. Be nice if someone in this administration or any of the governing bodies would call up Hilary and ask to borrow her guts and testicular appendages so they can act like real men for a while.

Frankly I don’t quite see why they haven’t just been burning it off as it hits the surface. Oh, wait, then they’d lose all those barrels they’re carrying away.

lew wrote: ” Question: Which is heavier, oil or water? This used to be on the intelligence test with milk and cream. ”

An intelligence test for the average American, no doubt.

Tell me, do you have an intelligence test available for those people who actually studied physics that queries on the effects of oil at 1 fricking mile deep. The physics change ENTIRELY? Do you have any idea what the pressure is at that depth?

heeyuck wrote: ” Lew is smarter than yew ”

Not smarter

Not better educated

Not more knowledgeable

You know you’re in trouble when your lobster has a tiny little drilling rig on its back.

@misterwhite

I can calculate the pressure for you, but it won’t make any difference. zev.farkas got it right, and you’re talking about non-compressible fluids. The density difference will be essentially zero.

Runar, I thought the little drilling rig was looking for melted butter.

LOL: Is Lew is smarter than a 5th grader?

I don’t know about that - consider the dietary habits of Crabs:

“Crabs are ‘carrion eaters’, meaning they feast on what’s left after a larger predator has its fill. Typically, they munch on pieces of dead fish or whatever else happens to wind up on the bay or ocean bottom, since that’s where they live. They are detrivores (an organism that feeds on detritus or organic waste). They will consume animal as well as plant matter (algae, etc.). They will mostly live off plankton and other types of water plantation. They also eat some small fish in the wild. Crabs are opportunists. They will eat what they find, including partially decomposed items.”

Wiki Answers Reference Source

So Lew - even if the crude oil floats (even after being churned by dispersants & ocean waves), dead things are going to sink & be eaten by crabs & other bottom feeder fish.

Any 5th Grader would know that!

How come Yerbouti knows so much about the ointment?

*GJ* I thought I spoke of oil being lighter than water. Do you doubt that? I know nothing about your crab, fleas or ticks. I guess you were the fifth grader who stole the cream off the top for your corn flakes and left your poor father skim for his coffee. Or did that law of physics change. Why does the Mafia use cement overshoes? Because an organic (not Al Gore) will float after it produces CO2. Carbon, 5th graders is lighter than water. Wood floats (which may explain why liberals keep their head above water), oil floats, and any solid, liquid or gas that has less density than water will float. Water is most dense at 4 degrees and I may be wrong but I think it gets pretty cold down there. I haven’t had a physics class in 30 years, but wouldn’t you have to change it to ice or steam to make it less dense? How then would pressure make it less dense?I would think that any 5th grader could look at all that oil on top of the gulf and say, “oil floats” If you believe oil sinks, well how many times have the aliens abducted you?

EEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenuf. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENUF!!

So we went with lectures on fluid dynamics instead of the advantages of using iPads as placemats – whoda thunk?

The pictures and what I can understand are bad enough for me. I alternate between being enraged with BP and our government and being incredibly sad.

LOL - Lew! I grew up on a Holstein Dairy Farm! Lots of cream floated to the top of the holding tank & my dad would “skim” some off to make a batch of Ice Cream.

As for “Crabs” - 1st line, 1st panel the customer asks: “How are the crabs?” U seem to be focused on the “physics of oil & water” rather than Reality That Our Food Source Is Being Contaminated Beyond Petroleum Floating On Surface Waters!

I believe that the dispersants used along with churning water is creating a “blob” of something that may be lurking below the surface. I believe that the oil they set on fire creates tar like blobs that will sink the ocean floor. I believe that anything that dies and gets eaten by another ☜that other will carry contaminates in his/her body. That other can be a crab, grouper, shark, human, etc…

My concern is for any 5th grader who is going to have to find out if anything he/she has had for dinner is going to come back to haunt them - like cancer.

Grow up and act like a responsible adult & be concerned about what kind of legacy we are leaving the children!

LEWREADER -

check out a couple of these, the “blond” jokes and why people think americans are stupid vids…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeSnJ3QaPU