There Are 650,000,000,000,000,000 Gallons of Water in the Gulf of Mexico

650,000,000,000,000,000, which is 650 Quadrillion.

So, I'm wondering, like a lot of us, how much do we really have to worry about? Is this real, or is this fear-mongering?

Some math:

For something to pollute that quantity of water to 1 ppm, you need 650,000,000,000 (650 billion) gallons of it.

To pollute to 1 ppb, you need 650,000,000 (650 million) gallons of it.

Volume of water in Gulf of Mexico from WikiAnswers

Two other thoughts...

First, the water in the Gulf is constantly exchanging with other, larger bodies of water, which dilutes contaminants even more.

Second, pollutants can be concentrated, by viscosity and currents and other, so maybe a broad brush doesn't work for this.

reply to post by b.jim


60,000 barrels -- or 2.5 million gallons -- a day.

145 million gallons - The amount of oil that has leaked from the source since the beginning of the accident.


and that was 6-15-2010

www.treehugger.com...

Yes, thanks. We've done this math before, in numerous threads. Any idea how many gallons of oil and dispersant have been added to this 650,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of seawater?

There are still worries here, such as the amounts of methane gas and other harmful gases and chemicals being introduced into the ecosystem, particularly closer to the shoreline.

Considerable less spillage caused damage in Alaska and Mexico that is still affecting those areas today, not to mention the people who worked cleaning up the spills.

There is nothing to worry about.

In the end, the powers that be will realize their mistakes.

In the end, those in charge will be replaced by those with absolute altruistic intentions.

In the end, Earth will be a heavenly place with free energy and spiritual awareness.

It will happen.

When it will happen is a different story.

We can either be pushed to it using suffering (like the oil spill) or gladly accept our errors and move on.

No matter how you look at it, good or bad, this leak has proved that there is plenty of oil out there! I have heard talk of not having enough,well there you go. I hope in the future that someone comes to their senses and make the big oil producers lower their price and stop artificially inflating the price of gas and oil

reply to post by JBA2848


That number doesn't look right to me. I stink at math but it's more like, at the high range of barrels per day...

100,000 barrels per day x 42 gallons to a barrel times 83 days = up to 348,600,000 gallons so far.

650,000,000,000,000,000,000
348,600,000

What's this as a percentage?

There's a calculator here.

[edit on 7/12/2010 by ~Lucidity]

I cannot understand this reasoning: Because we have 'x' amount of water, it is acceptable to pollute it to 'y' degree. No problem. Nothing to see here folks. Move along.
Mel Gibson is in trouble. Check him out.
In this equation 'x' remains constant. 'Y' increases constantly. The amount of water on earth does not change. And to think that the Gulf is refreshed with pristine water is absurd.

[edit on 12-7-2010 by SimplyGord]

[edit on 12-7-2010 by SimplyGord]

reply to post by modelerX


?

Thats the wrong attitude.

How about you throw into that equation how many barrels of oil a DAY the economic world needs.

That little figure is 85 MILLION barrels a day.

Have you seen pictures of the wildlife affected by the spill? But I guess I'm guilty of the same logic. I've sometimes peed in the ocean, thinking with all that water, it will just dilute it :/

reply to post by b.jim


Since you seem to think the Gulf hasn't been polluted, why don't you go ask the marine life in the water how many ppm it takes to cover them with oil. Or how many ppm of the deadly methane it takes to reduce their oxygen supply below the threshold that is consistent with life.

Or why don't you ask the people who life and fish on the Gulf coast how many ppm it takes to ruin their income and livelihoods.

Or ask the chamber of commerce's for the gulf coast states how many ppm it takes to ruin tourism for x amount of years.

Or I can ask you how many ppm it takes of BP's money to make it into your pocket for you to come on here spreading dis-info like so many others before you.

reply to post by b.jim

dude give me a break the amount of oil is zero. The enitire fishing industry is ruined all those white beachs gone,not to mention the parts per millions of toxens way above the safety level. This oil volcano can not be stoped its spliting the sea floor theres a 20 mile bubble of methan ready to blow and your worried about if this will affect our oceans.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


I just did the math on your example, I get 5-ten-thousandths of 1 part per billion...(using Excel).

Which would mean the original math was wrong, it was too high.

Again, I am not trying to make light of this mess, only to put an idea out there, and get help from other ATS members to better understand it.

Thanks for your reply...

Ok, please allow me to clarify what I ment if there was any confusion.

First Off: I live in north Alabama, so I am not on the coast, But I was born in New Orleans and have had family there going back 150 years. I also have family in Mobile. Both places I have set a good part of my childhood in to the point to that I call then home. It angers me to see what BP has done to the gulf and my states. I have friends who are working down there right now and I have first hand accounts of pilots whom have flow many missions down there. I know its sbad and there is no excuse for it.

What I was trying to say in my post is that I hope that later on, after the mess figured out ( like that would ever happen) that we would see better regulations on the oil industry and maybe even a fall in gas prices.
OK,l I maybe looking at it the wrong way.

reply to post by modelerX


I have read, that the problem with the oil pricing, is that the average barrel is traded 80 times, by speculators, before it reaches the consumer.

This goes back to Goldman-Sachs, and traders, and derivatives, that's what really has driven up the price of gasoline.

reply to post by b.jim

Huh? What percentage of the higher number is the lower number? And what does the original math come out to?

100,000 barrels per day times 42 gallons per barrel times 83 days


[edit on 7/12/2010 by ~Lucidity]

reply to post by b.jim


If you are sincere that you want to understand the concept then I will add this...:

If you take a really big stick, and then stir it all up, then the impact might not be as bad as it is. However since we don't have that stick, nor even if we did, could oil and water mix, then we have to deal with certain areas that are heavily concentrated with the stuff.

It is not dispersed all through the full volume of water there. Just parts of it. And that's why there is such a catastrophe from this. Your math doesn't work because it's wrong. I'm far from a mathematician, but it should be easy to see that the oil isn't spread evenly throughout the entire amount of water.

reply to post by b.jim


So what is your acceptable amount of DESTRUCTIVE contamination? We all have seen the enormous number calculated for the volume of the gulf as well as the entire ocean volume of the planet.
And it still comes back to the same question when someone pops up with the percentage of the whole crap. What percentage is acceptable? and as for even using it for hydrocarbons which span complete solublity to complete insoulbility seems like you missed a portion of the equation.
The contamination must be addressed scientifically and that would include factoring the solubility of the fractions as well as for the dispersants. Info we shall never see and know it is fact. And you are correct since densities vary by concentration we have "clouds" of hydrocarbon drifting along in High concentration making an absolute statement the gulf is Xppm contaminated
inaccurate and misleading.
I had little belief in disinfo agents screwing with web communication and I am not accusing you of such but it is post like this in the wake of the worst harm we have done to our home on big swoop makes me wonder who can say it's not so bad? Are you trying to feel better about the mess by "mathing" it away"? As to any one watching outside the MSM this is a big tipping point for a lot of your rights and economic future not just the most inaccesable mess we have ever made but also one we don't have the technology to handle .
So in perspective rather than useless ppb or ppt calculations that will never calculate the damage which could have been avoided. put that thinking cap on the effect economically it will have on the largest part of the gulf and get back to us your acceptable amount of contamination in whatever units you can come up with.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


You just take 348,600,000 and divide by 650,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Then multiply by 1,000,000 to get parts per million.

Or multiply by 1,000,000,000 to get parts per billion.

Although, I have been illuminated by other posts here, simple math does not do this justice.

The oil and toxics congregate in relatively thin layers, and concentrated areas, and that is why we have a mess, mathematically.

Originally posted by modelerX
No matter how you look at it, good or bad, this leak has proved that there is plenty of oil out there! I have heard talk of not having enough,well there you go. I hope in the future that someone comes to their senses and make the big oil producers lower their price and stop artificially inflating the price of gas and oil

How do you come to that conclusion?

This spill has dumped about 200 million gallons? The US consumes 20 million barrels a DAY.

OP, oil doesn't mix with water. It floats to the top and stays in the first few feet.

Averaging the oil out in ppm or ppb might look nice in the numbers, but in reality, when you exclude the numbers below a depth of 1.5 feet or just take the surface area of the water, you can see why it is worse.