Oil is not a Fossil Fuel

[charlz]

That theory has been around for much longer than that.

The theory of Continental Drift was around before that with the possibility of plates. But it wasn't accepted until the late 50's/60's when new discoveries were made .... Magnetic reversals in the rock along the Atlantic ridge. Plate techtonics came into the picture to explain this. Continental Drift became accepted and then once more research was done on sea floor spreading and magnetic field reversals in the bedrock Plate Tectonics became accepted.

Basically before these new discoveries in the 60's it was clearly IMPOSSIBLE for portions of the earths crust to move.... everyone knew that! Kinda like everyone knows oil comes from dead dinosaurs

I actually just saw a show on this two days ago.

 

[irwin]

(First: I like and respect many of the people on this site.)

I had always read that oil was usually formed from ancient ocean sediment..plants, abundant plankton etc. Never thought it was Dinosaurs, although I had heard it described that way by lay people, not scientists. although why not a little organic Dinosaur thrown in.
Then heat, pressure etc. ( and a long time).. I also believe there is less easily obtained crude available than many people think..I don't like to think that, but I see no reason to believe otherwise..yet.
An open mind is okay, just not so open it flaps in the wind. At the rate we use oil I hope I'm wrong.

The following is from this site..The Origin of Oil - Answers in Genesis

The Origin and Chemistry of Oil
Most scientists agree that hydrocarbons (oil and natural gas) are of organic origin. A few, however, maintain that some natural gas could have formed deep within the earth, where heat melting the rocks may have generated it inorganically.1 Nevertheless, the weight of evidence favors an organic origin, most petroleum coming from plants and perhaps also animals, which were buried and fossilized in sedimentary source rocks.2 The petroleum was then chemically altered into crude oil and gas.

The chemistry of oil provides crucial clues as to its origin. Petroleum is a complex mixture of organic compounds. One such chemical in crude oils is called porphyrin:

Petroleum porphyrins have been identified in a sufficient number of sediments and crude oils to establish a wide distribution of the geochemical fossils.3
They are also found in plants and animal blood4 (see sidebar Porphyrins).

Porphyrins
Porphyrins are organic molecules that are structurally very similar to both chlorophyll in plants and hemoglobin in animal blood.1 They are classified as tetrapyrrole compounds and often contain metals such as nickel and vanadium.2 Porphyrins are readily destroyed by oxidizing conditions (oxygen) and by heat.3 Thus geologists maintain that the porphyrins in crude oils are evidence of the petroleum source rocks having been deposited under reducing conditions:

The origin of petroleum is within an anaerobic and reducing environment. The presence of porphyrins in some petroleums means that anaerobic conditions developed early in the life of such petroleums, for chlorophyll derivatives, such as porphyrins, are easily and rapidly oxidized and decomposed under aerobic conditions.4
References
1.McQueen, D.R., The chemistry of oil容xplained by Flood geology, Impact #155, Institute for Creation Research, Santee, California, 1986.
2.Tissot, B.P., and Welte, D.H., Petroleum Formation and Occurrence, 2nd ed., Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 409?10, 1984.
3.Russell, W.L., Principles of Petroleum Geology, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, p. 25, 1960.
4.Levorsen, p. 502.

 

[NuBota]

Good thread - I adopt a simple philosophy - To know (and admit) what I don't know - Oh, and the quote in my sig....

In my short 40+ years I have learned that dinosaurs are not reptiles but birds, that Pluto is not a planet, and that the speed of light may not be constant. And what ever happened to the whole flourocarbon/ozone deal?

Theories are just a way for us to pretend we know what we don't.....

 

[Chuck52]

Anyone want to comment about the origin of peat and coal? Perhaps that has already been addressed....I have problems reading some of these things.

Dinosaurs. I guess the PR people at Sinclair should be tarred and feathered for coming up with those 50's adds. No one, really, I mean NO ONE in the community of people actually studying the origin of fossil fuels ever believed that dinosaurs represented a significant portion of the organic matter which eventually became said fuels. Fuel from dinosaurs sounds so much better than fuel from plankton and algae, nicht var? At least to an add man.

Chuck

 

[DieselPower]

And what ever happened to the whole fluorocarbon/ozone deal?

Most countries banned their use. Look under the hood of your car and you can see the results of some of that regulation. Modern vehicles no longer use R-12 as the refrigerant but uses R-134A instead. The problem was mainly with some haloalkanes (those containing chlorine or bromine) have been shown to have negative effects on the environment such as ozone depletion. The most widely known family within this group is the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which is what R-12 is. "Fluorocarbons" are not the problem, it's compounds of fluorocarbon like CFC's. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) do not contain chlorine and are not ozone depleting. The downside is they are believed to cause global warming like carbon dioxide. HFC's and perfluorocarbons (PFCs), are targets of the Kyoto Protocol and they much like CFC's are being replaced by more environmentally friendly compounds. A little off topic so back to the great oil debate.

 

[texbaylea]

Irwin

What is your definition of "easily available" petroleum? I have been on this planet a long time, studied geology in the late 5o's early 60's at the graduate level. I have been hearing, every year, since that time, "we will run out of oil in 20 or 30 or maybe 50 years". We never seem to get there. Exploration techniques are always improving and frequently finds are in areas long since written off.

This country could be self sufficient in oil for many, many years if we could get rid of artificial barriers to exploration.

Vernon

 

[NuBota]

Most countries banned their use. Look under the hood of your car and you can see the results of some of that regulation. Modern vehicles no longer use R-12 as the refrigerant but uses R-134A instead. The problem was mainly with some haloalkanes (those containing chlorine or bromine) have been shown to have negative effects on the environment such as ozone depletion. The most widely known family within this group is the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which is what R-12 is. "Fluorocarbons" are not the problem, it's compounds of fluorocarbon like CFC's. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) do not contain chlorine and are not ozone depleting. The downside is they are believed to cause global warming like carbon dioxide. HFC's and perfluorocarbons (PFCs), are targets of the Kyoto Protocol and they much like CFC's are being replaced by more environmentally friendly compounds. A little off topic so back to the great oil debate.

Oh yea - I remember all of that (well, some of it) - I just don't remember hearing if the hole over Antarctica ever healed itself......

 

[irwin]

Irwin

What is your definition of "easily available" petroleum? I have been on this planet a long time, studied geology in the late 5o's early 60's at the graduate level. I have been hearing, every year, since that time, "we will run out of oil in 20 or 30 or maybe 50 years". We never seem to get there. Exploration techniques are always improving and frequently finds are in areas long since written off.

This country could be self sufficient in oil for many, many years if we could get rid of artificial barriers to exploration.

Vernon

How many oil rigs are in the gulf of mexico..that's not easily available in my way of thinking.. ask the guys that work out there if it's easy.

No one truely knows how many years of oil remain.., but unless the planet doesn't need ancient organic matter to create more.........

I'm thinking in terms of my grandchildren... What makes us so special, of all the generations, what gives us the right to strip the Earth of easily mined energy. I think it's avarice.. If we don't someone else will, and we've grown so much that now we can.

Everyone's entitled to an opinion... I'm trying to see it from a distance, because the truth is a scarce commodity up close.

 

[Spiveyman]

It's interesting to read all of the chemistry here. I'm a chemical engineer, or rather I should say that I have that degree, though I'm not using it now. Anyway, politics or other social agendas have always had a significant impact on "scientific facts." That's why I like the chemistry, it's harder to explain away with a popular political stand. The old dino = oil thing is about as silly as saying a meteorite hit the earth and killed off the dino's in the first place. With all of the science and all of the knowledge that we have amassed over the years, I think it is pretty cool to stop and realize that there still some pretty basic things we don't have a clue about. Then I thank God that the things we have wracked our brains about for centuries are trivial for Him.

 

[scott_vt]

We spend billions of US dollars every month importing foreign oil when we could keep that money working in our country by developing and using our natural gas resources wisely.

Converting our transportation fleets over to CNG would be a true economic stimulus which would actually do something productive and beneficial for the American taxpayer.

It would cut our air pollution, keep our money in our country and there is ample quantity of it to provide for our needs for decades to come.


Natural gas is available on almost every street in America through a network of 1.5 million miles of distribution pipelines across the country.

CNG is the bridge to better fuels of the future.

Natural gas as a transportation fuel is a sure way to break our dependence on foreign oil and keep billions of our dollars working here everyday.

Good Mornin two_bit_score,
I believe that you have hit on some very good advice here !

Actually many transportation fleets have converted to CNG. Certainly many more could be converted over. It is a very clean way to power alot of vehicles that run on our roadways everyday.

Hopefully more focus will be put on this energy source in the near future !