Oil Rain pouring down on Louisiana

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Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
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http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?list=~%5Cnews\lists\local and state&id=474688

RIVER RIDGE, LA. -- A YouTube video has gone viral supposedly showing oiled rain water near New Orleans. The video of black rain surfaced from a town near New Orleans. A man in the video claims it is raining oil.

Doctor Steve Opsahl is an environmental chemist in Newton and he isn't signing off on the theory.

“I've never seen anything like that before so this is a new phenomenon,” said Newton. “I think there is reason to question whether or not the oil is coming from the oil spill.”

But he says the answer is probably not.

“I would have to question whether or not that oil that you see there in the water is actually coming from run-off in parking lots and driveways rather than coming in from the rainfall.”

River Ridge is not far from New Orleans, which is not far from the spill site. But doctor Opsahl says that getting oil from the gulf to evaporate into the atmosphere and then precipitate onto the land is possible but unlikely.

“What we saw in the video is an oil sheen and that sheen implies that that oil is not soluble in water. That's why it is separated and that is why you can see it. So it doesn't really make sense from a chemical point of view,” said Opsahl.

Already people from River Ridge are posting videos on YouTube debunking the oil rain theory.

“If there was oil in this rain every vehicle that was driving on the road it would be smearing as their windshield wipers were moving back in forth.,” say Jason Berry, the creator of one of the videos. “This is the only person in a city of 1 million people that is claiming it is raining oil. Don't you think that we would all be freaking out?”
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Narmer

Diamond Member
Aug 27, 2006
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How will this effect the water reserves in the region? Aren't they basically open lakes?
 
Amused

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,504
20,111
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Narmer said:
How will this effect the water reserves in the region? Aren't they basically open lakes?
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It won't. It's bullshit.

You're seeing oil runoff from a street or parking lot and a very stupid guy talking on the video.
 
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dammitgibs

Senior member
Jan 31, 2009
477
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lol I saw this story on reddit and digg and I thought the whole point of it was to make fun of the idiots that thought it was really raining oil, now I realized it's because people believed it was really raining oil, I don't know if I should laugh or if I should cry.
 
Amused

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,504
20,111
146
dammitgibs said:
lol I saw this story on reddit and digg and I thought the whole point of it was to make fun of the idiots that thought it was really raining oil, now I realized it's because people believed it was really raining oil, I don't know if I should laugh or if I should cry.
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Truvy: Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion. :p

Seriously, though. This is all just so damn stupid.
 
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bfdd

Lifer
Feb 3, 2007
13,312
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What I want to know is how did the oil evaporate into the clouds with the water? Oil and water don't mix so how did it get up there? Should be a simple problem for someone with more time or caring to figure out.
 
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Double Trouble

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
9,270
103
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bfdd said:
What I want to know is how did the oil evaporate into the clouds with the water? Oil and water don't mix so how did it get up there? Should be a simple problem for someone with more time or caring to figure out.
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Yes, very simple to figure out: it's bullshit. There. Done :)
 
Babbles

Babbles

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2001
8,253
14
81
Yeah, so the aliphatic hydrocarbons that compromises oil are not volatile - we have organic chemistry ranges of VOC (volatile organic compounds) and SVOC (semivolatile organic compounds) and oil is just way above that. Granted there may be some VOCs in oil (hence the entire burning off of natural gas) but the oil slick isn't volatile. As such it has no vapor pressure, or it effectively has no vapor pressure, meaning it's not going to evaporate into the atmosphere, then condense and precipitate as "rain."
 
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bfdd

Lifer
Feb 3, 2007
13,312
1
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Double Trouble said:
Yes, very simple to figure out: it's bullshit. There. Done :)
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I mean it has to be right? Everyone is taught oil and water don't mix. So by just that simple logic how does it rain a mixture of oil and water? To bad there's TONS of people who will believe this shit and spread it around everywhere making it harder to tell them they're wrong and to shut the fuck up.
 
sportage

sportage

Lifer
Feb 1, 2008
11,492
3,163
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woot! Free grease jobs for all !!!
I knew there was some good to come from all this...
 
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NoWhereM

Senior member
Oct 15, 2007
543
0
0
Okay, I understand the oil and water don't mix part. I don't understand exactly what you believe is happening to that portion of the oil that is evaporating, though.

http://www.mms.gov/tarprojects/120/120BG.PDF

Couldn't a hard rain bring down some oil as it falls to earth the same way it does with other polutants?
 
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