Young engineer has BP's ear

A young engineer has presented her solution for the BP leak, and apparently BP is listening. Her solution/fix is quite novel and even if it doesn't work hopefully she will inspire others to consider this problem and work towards a solution.

She seems like a bright engineering student, but even she is humble and readily admits it may not work, I mention this because I don't want to hear from frustrated "geniuses" SCREAMING "I CAN FIX IT!!!!!!!!"

Suggestions welcome. I know everyone seems to have an opinion on how to fix this, but clearly those at BP will listen to novel solutions that they haven't thought of yet, which is about the only credit I'll give them so far.

[edit on 7-6-2010 by Threadfall]

[edit on 7-6-2010 by Threadfall]

I think reallly one of two things can stop this oil leak:

1) kill it with fire.

2) if that doesn't work, nuke it from orbit(it's the only way to be sure)

I think she is trying to get hired by BP. She likes the tires and assumed BP would stop the leak. Plus she is on CNN, so she must know someone . But who knows. It's too late anyways.

reply to post by Conqueror of Seth


No offense, but I think those are awful ideas considering the how much could go HORRIBLY wrong with those "solutions." First of that slick is about the size of Portugal, lighting that on fire would make the southeast toxic and who knows how long it might actually burn, perhaps for years. And a nuke? Well that just sounds apocalyptic. I'm not attacking, keep thinking bro.

I have some ideas too, I'll post them when I can present them in an adequate manner.

[edit on 7-6-2010 by Threadfall]

Originally posted by Maximus_Prime
I think she is trying to get hired by BP. She likes the tires and assumed BP would stop the leak. Plus she is on CNN, so she must know someone

. But who knows. It's too late anyways.

Who cares if she's trying to get hired. BP should take any help they can get, because their "braintrust" ain't cutting it.

I looked at it twice and it is a good simple idea in principle.

The problem with her idea being as soon as she mentioned "inflate".....wrong answer Buzzer Sound went off !

The problem is inflating anything at such depths would be near impossible.

Looking at the basic concept of inflation ( and I don't mean economics)
In order for anything to withstand internal pressure, and inflate, for example a tire , your internal pressure must be higher than the external pressure pressure opposing it. That's why you need an air pump to fill a tire with air for example. At sea level.

And why your tire gauge is read in psi.

At a mile down, a tire or anything inflatable, would not be able to withstand these types of pressures.

Thats why on the sidewall of a car tire it has the maximum inflatable pressure printed on it, for example. Usually around 45lbs PSI.

She mentions hydraulic fluid....and tires....even worse because it's heavier than air and would exert more weight on the wall of the tire.

She needs to visit a tire shop to see how car/motorcycle tires are mounted on rims/wheel in order to create an airtight seal to hold air.
Based upon her idea, the pipe would need the shape of the tire bead.

Oh, perhaps she was going to use inner tubes !!


But anyway....back to the depths.

Not even our own state of the art nuclear submarines can withstand the pressures at this depth.

If you look at the crush depth of a modern nuclear submarine it's is around 2400 feet with the hull having been breached (called leaking) long before reaching this depth.

This gulf oil leak is a mile down.....or 5280 feet.

As for her idea, good on principle, weak on application, but it's a start.

reply to post by nh_ee


She explicitly says her idea is not to inflate with air, but using pneumatics or hydraulics via that heavy drilling mud or a heavy gas for example.


"She mentions hydraulic fluid....and tires....even worse because it's heavier than air and would exert more weight on the wall of the tire." --nh_ee

I don't see a problem with this as long as the pressure in the tire is greater than or equal to the pressure outside. And I don't think she's talking about using Goodyear's. I'm sure a much more sophisticated medium would be implemented if they were to try this.


[edit on 7-6-2010 by Threadfall]

[edit on 7-6-2010 by Threadfall]

CNN is going to be looking at my solution next.

I drew a sketch, and it involves using a large cork, and it is using the same principle that wine bottlers have known for years.

You take a cork, and insert it in the pipe, essentially "corking" off the oil, and stopping it from coming out of the pipe. Sort of like a cork blocking or "corking" off wine that ends up stuck in a bottle.

Another good example is a note in a bottle where someone is on a desert island. They "cork" the bottle with their note in it so it doesn't get wet, or fill up with liquid and sink.

reply to post by nh_ee


The reason submarines have difficulty at those depths is not the outside pressure, but rather the difference between the outside pressure and the internal pressure, as it has to be normal for people to breath comfortably.

A tyre might be able to withstand 45 PSI at sea level, but that's because the outside air pressure is relatively low, in comparison to the internal pressure.

At the depths of this well, if you could get the internal preesure of said trye high enough so that the difference between the internal and external was around the same as what you'd see at sea level, the tyre won't burst. A coke can could survive unscathed at those depths as long as the internal and external pressures were equal.

A modern submarine could dive to the bottom of the deepest trench in the ocean if the air pressure inside rose in relation to the external water pressure son the difference wasn't exceeding the tolerance of the hull, but unfortunately the people inside would be squished.

I suppose they could just find a huge rubber cork and then create a device to force the cork onto the leak and compress it shut.

makes perfect scene to me a woman would be the one who finds a way to clean up BPS mens mess lol woman have been cleaning up our messes for a million years now thats a good enough reference for me lolol

Interesting and an inspiring post and story. I am a firm believer that good ideas (particularly in the realm of science) can come from anywhere. Some of those stone age tenured professors that have been teaching from the same lesson plans for decades can do more harm than good; I do not care if they do have a PhD for Cal Tech.

I am on the physics/mathematics side of the scientific divide, and I must say that I am always excited to hear from females in the field. Why you may ask? Because they are female. Engineering and science are male dominated like no other field. I have not had a female in any of my college classes since 2 years ago in Trigonometric functions.

You might think my interest is solely based upon a sexual fantasy involving a female in a lab technicians coat, but it does have a basis in pragmatics. Like it or not, we are different animals based upon both biology and physiology. As such, it stands to reason that a unique and new idea on spatial density or inertia could come from a female researcher. As much as I hate to admit it, modern (male dominated) science is failing in our obligations to humanity.

[edit on 7-6-2010 by supaflyrobby]

[edit on 7-6-2010 by supaflyrobby]

Originally posted by Maximus_Prime
I think she is trying to get hired by BP. She likes the tires and assumed BP would stop the leak. Plus she is on CNN, so she must know someone

. But who knows. It's too late anyways.

Naw she doesn't want to work for BP, I am sure she has much better options on her table.

A little run down on who she is.
en.wikipedia.org...
Alia Sabur

Alia Sabur (born February 22, 1989 in New York City, New York) is an American materials scientist. She holds the record for being the world's youngest professor.

Early life and education

Sabur became known after being accepted into graduate school at the age of 14. She had left public school in 4th grade, was admitted to State University of New York at Stony Brook at the age of 10 and graduated summa cum laude at 14. She also received a black belt in Tae Kwon Do at the age of 9.[1] After Stony Brook, Sabur attended Drexel University where she received her M.S. in 2006. In 2007 she took a temporary position at Southern University in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.[2]

Mathematics career

On 19 February 2008, when she was appointed professor of mathematics at 19 years and 7 months of age, the Guinness Book of World Records named Sabur the World's Youngest Professor, a designation that had been held by Colin Maclaurin since 1717.

She was a professor in the Department of Advanced Technology Fusion at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea.[2] Sabur, who signed a one-year contract with Konkuk University in February 2008 and began teaching there in June 2008, returned to her hometown of New York early 2009, without renewing her contract.

2010 British Petroleum Oil Spill

Sabur appeared on CNN to illustrate her idea, which BP is considering as an option to help alleviate the ongoing crisis

reply to post by InvisibleObserver


uhhhhhh, please do not use wiki around me. As soon as I see the source citation, it gives me an involuntary reaction akin to gargling a bottle of bleach while simultaneous having my testicles inserted into a meat grinder.

I am not trying to be pompous, it really is an accurate portrayal of my reaction.

Nice stats.

It just shows that our expectations for a childs education in the U.S.A. is waaay too low, and they should have more expected of them.

reply to post by supaflyrobby


Ahahaha sorry to give you that reaction, just needed the info in a snap and its the easiest.

here is her very own link.

www.aliasabur.com...

[edit on 7-6-2010 by InvisibleObserver]

reply to post by supaflyrobby


Wiki is as accurate as any printed Encyclopedia on most factual subjects. This was confirmed by an extensive team of academics a couple of years ago.

I never understand why people react so bizzarely when a wiki link is trotted out, yet are quite happy for some other random link.

reply to post by stumason


I guess I have been in the academic game long enough now that wiki just activates my cognitive "gag reflex", and I am far from the only person that has that typical reaction.

When you see me post research and/or statistics (which is inevitable) you will quickly be able to discern that 99% of it comes from EbscoHost, Lexis Academic, Partners of Science, or some other peer reviewed database that strictly adheres to CSE source research and maintains academic integrity.

People sometimes make the claim that I am being elitist and unreasonable since I live on campus and those networks and many others are at my fingertips, but anybody with a Library card can access the same material.