Do we replace the oil with anything in order to balance the equilibrium of the planet, such as water or some other substance. I often wonder if the world will tip off balance because we have taken some of the weight out of it.
2006-09-06 06:33:07 · 18 answers · asked by gardengirl 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
First of all, oil typically doesn't come out of caverns as shown in textbooks, but instead is extracted from much smaller spaces (pores) in rocks.
Second, the volume of material removed from the deep underground takes up a very small percentage of the overall volume of the earth as to be insignificant.
Thirdly, the "weight taken out of the earth" never leaves the earth. The products of combustion stay here with us, and have the same weight as the combustion fuel.
So, the answer to your main question is "no" there is no danger of a cave in. Some displacement materials (such as water) are pumped down to the oil bearing layer to displace and force the oil to the surface, but often it comes up on its own with high pressure.
Good question. Most people haven't even given the displacement issue any thought. You should consider water wells. These wells are much shallower, and water is found in large caverns more often.
2006-09-06 06:45:20 · answer #1 · answered by Favoured 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't mean to be rude, but NOOOO!!!! If anything, using common sense I would have to say that maybe pumping all that oil might actually contribute to saving us from 'green house affect' if there is in fact such thing. apparently as the glaciers melt, water levels will rise right? If we pump 10,000 gallons of oil from the bottom of the ocean than the ocean water would fill in that empty vessel through the drill hole right? Well, at least that is the way that I look at it. If that occurrs than the water levels will actually drop just a little. If that does happen the way that I described. Just makes sense I suppose. Now, you can often wonder that.
2006-09-06 06:39:36 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
More water will evaporate off of the ocean in one day than the amount of oil that we could ever pump out of the ground in the next 3000 years. The earth is so big that regardless of how deep we have been able to drill into the ground, we still have not gone into 1% of the depth of the planet and we have probably used less than 0.0001% of the resources that contribute to the weight of the planet.
2006-09-06 06:44:34 · answer #3 · answered by Joe K 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sometimes. Offshore New Orleans, there's been "subsidence" which has led to the ground level sinking a few feet in some spots. You can read about this in National Geographic, from a couple of years ago.
There's no danger of a planetary catastrophe though. We're moving only a very small amount of mass compared with the mass of the whole earth.
In some oil fields, other substances are pumped in. In Los Angeles, hot water is pumped in.
2006-09-06 06:44:22 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No,
Oil is pumped generally out of sandy caverns, saline solution or H20 is pumped in,
Consider this, the deepest we drill is approximately three miles into the surface of the earth. the diameter of the earth is about 8000 miles, a drill hole would be no more then the the very tip of a microfine needle touching the skin of out body at that depth.
2006-09-06 09:54:18 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I heard somewhere that the oil is replaced by other liquids during the pumping process, such as water or human blood.
2006-09-06 06:42:09 · answer #6 · answered by mikky 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have wondered about that myself! I'd say we need to be careful of what we do in the future no one can really tell if the places where the oil had been will cave in it may happen we really do not understand earth and what underground real well so anything is possible.
2006-09-06 06:42:53 · answer #7 · answered by wolf 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not the entire earth, but the caverns certainly could. Hear about all the mines which collapsed in the last few years?
2006-09-06 06:36:09 · answer #8 · answered by shermynewstart 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Planet earth has its own defense mechanisms for its internal dynamic stability. The changes we are making are minuscule but all the same playing with earth does change its internal structure. It is not much of consequence however in the short term.
2006-09-06 06:40:14 · answer #9 · answered by openpsychy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Most oil is trapped in layers of rock. As the deposit becomes depleted, water injection is used to bring the oil closer to the top.
2006-09-06 06:40:26 · answer #10 · answered by S.A.M. Gunner 7212 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋