Oil is one of the most vital components on earth. The world has come to depend on this critical substance, and without it, it would be difficult to imagine how people would survive. Crude oil rule every industry since persons realized its importance many centuries ago. Unfortunately, the rate at which people misuse oil is is worrying, and the rate at which this vital substance is depleting is also alarming. Most people do not understand the history of the formation is an essential substance, yet they misuse it. Unfortunately, a process that took millions of years could be abused by human beings in hundreds of years. The documentary Crude: Incredible journey of oil lay bare the history of this vital substance as well as how people use it and the threat of its depletion
Where does oil come from? What is the basic material that makes up this vital substance?
Oil is a vital substance that comes from the Middle East. Different materials form oil. It is formed by organic matter that combines with carbon molecules and sunlight that transform into energy when people expose it to a flash of sunlight in the water. Through the process of photosynthesis, cells divide and form organic cells, walls, and fatty carbohydrates molecules that will then transform into phytoplankton. These will then clog under the process of sedimentation under pressure and heat bellow the seas into thick crude oil. Carbon is, therefore, the main elements that lead to the formation of the oil or the crude as it is known.
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What role does carbon play in the creation of crude oil? What is unique about this essential element?
Carbon is the main element that forms crude oil. The atmosphere and water are rich in carbon dioxide. The organic cells in the seas harbor hydrogen and when the seas' carbon dioxide combines with the hydrogen on this cells, and there is a flash of sunlight, they form sugar in the process of photosynthesis and this would later form fatty acids and cell wall and would later undergo sedimentation under the seas to form oil. The combination of the two elements results in a hydrocarbon that is critical in the process of oil formation. Carbon is thus the main element that is involved in the process that leads to the creation of crude oil. The unique thing about this element is that it is present in every living thing.
How does the energy in carbon-rich shale transfer into crude? (Where does the process take place?)
The power in the carbon-rich shale comes from the process of photosynthesis, which needs sunlight. After this process, there is the formation of what is called the phytoplankton that results from the cell wall and the carbohydrates molecules. The dead phytoplankton gets concentrated by wind, waves, and rivers. The dead shale, therefore, is deposited on the sea bed. Note that, down the seas, water is anoxic, and this allow the shale to concentrate on the sea rock into thick black substances. It is possible because the ocean is in a state of stagnation, as illustrated in the video. Over several years and centuries, the shale would sink into the button of the seas and get covered. The temperature at this level, as well as the pressure that comes due to the pile of these shales, is critical. Due to these elements, the process of sedimentation will occur as both pressure and heat work on the shale rock to produce cracks on the sediment rocks. These then transform into light crude that forms the crude oil. All this process takes place in the seas and below the sea.
What is exceptional about oil’s energy density?
Oil is present in daily life. What is amazing about oil is the energy density it possesses in a small volume or a drop. Imagine a big submarine ship that is pushed by a small volume of oil. Imagine a big passenger plane that is lifted by a small quantity of jet fuel. The energy density that oil possesses is thus incredible. A small sample of oil has a tremendous amount of energy in it that burns to lift the big thing and also turn a considerable part of machines, as illustrated from the video. It is a combination of power and energy that is between carbon and hydrogen atoms that release tones of energy. It is such an incredible energy density that the oil possesses that has made it priceless for every human being in the world.
How much oil does the average American use each day? How is this consumption broken down?
When the video comes at the end, the presenter is controversial when he asks whether the end of the oil age would be the beginning of the world reshaping to begin the process of the oil formation. It is worrying more precisely if a person would imagine in the United States alone; each person consumes about three barrels of oil in a day. The consumption can be broken down into three parts as gallon for travel, a gallon for products, and a gallon for food. Cars, jets, and other machines that aid in transport daily will use the gallon. The gallon of oil for product are those that channel on different merchandise such as fertilizers, drugs, fishnets, paints, plastics, pesticides, painkillers, and many other products from oil that create confront for every human being daily. The last components are food gallons, which is an oil that is used to make food that people eat with a good example being the oil used for cooking food.
How did the discovery of the Gwar reservoir affect the global demand for oil?
The discovery of the oil at the Gwar oil field in early 1940 changed the world. The oil demand rose significantly, reaching a whopping 2% per year. Due to such a demand, many oil companies were drilling and draining oil from different areas. The Soviet Union, for instance, camped at Baku and drilled millions of oil barrels to match the demand for oil that was now rising at a crazy rate around the world. As the demand for oil was on the rise, so was the need to search for other alternative sources of oil other than the Gwar, but the discovery of the Gwar filed by the tone and style. The companies thus managed to have other alternatives such as drilling oil from different seas such as the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. All these were to match the demands that were already set by the discovery of oil.
What and how do fossilized ginkgo plants (aka. maidenhair tree) tell us about the carbon dioxide levels of the Jurassic period?
The Jurassic period was one of the most critical times that contributed positively to the formation of oil earth. As pre-mentioned, carbon was a crucial element during the formation of oil on the earth. A high rate of carbon dioxide thus marked the period. An excellent example of a plant that existed during this time and also existed toady and can be used as an excellent example to depict the high concentration of carbon dioxide is the ginkgo. It was a plant that could survive on the low oxygen rate and high level of carbon dioxide. From the video, the presenter claim that the carbon oxide level during the Jurassic period was four times more than the current level of carbon four oxides. It needed a plant that utilizes this level of carbon dioxide, such as Ginkgo and animals such as Dinosaur, that needed massive amounts of such gases to survive because there was a low level of oxygen.
Temperatures in the Jurassic age were higher than our temperatures nowadays, so how does the earth eventually turns the switch off and starts cooling off ?
As mentioned before, the carbon dioxide at the Jurassic period was four-time more than current, and the temperature was so high. It leads to a lot of rainfall that could lead to mass flooding of different seas with a high rate of nutrients from plants that due to stagnation of the seas, could later settle and form oil through the process of sedimentation. However, the sea was at an anoxic state because it was devoid of oxygen, and the sulfur was suffocating the oceans as it was rising on the air. The pushing the oceans and the world at large to cool or look for a balance or manner at which it could switch off the heat. So, when there was a high rate of organic deaths and are barred down the seas, there was also state of disappearance of carbon on the atmosphere and the water which later leads to a reverse states of greenhouse effects that leading to cooling in the world with oceanic effects switching off, and whole system return to its normal states.
The movie refers to Ocean stagnation. Why? What is Ocean Stagnation?
Stagnation is a term that is used most of the time in the movie to refer to a state where there is less oxygen deep down the sea. Ocean stagnation is critical for oil formation because it triggers the process of sedimentation. Note that the nutrients having drawn from different areas settle at the seas. Such needs the states of stagnation or less oxygen to allow them to settle down at sea and begin the process of sedimentation. Itis also the state of stagnation that allows these particles to settle firmly will enable them to pile as they are buried deep down the ocean for sedimentation. Such a role makes the stagnation a critical element in the process of oil formation.
At the end of the movie, the following comment is stated: “It would be ironic if the end of our oil age becomes the start of the earth’s next great face of oil formation” Give me your opinion on that statement.
From the movie, it is clear that the earth has its means of adjustments that click on and off depending on how its components balance on the surface. The formation of oil on earth experienced many challenges with high temperatures, mass carbon dioxide, and mass extinction of species of plants and animals as the earth was balancing. Human beings got an opportunity to exploit the oil for their benefits. However, they have failed to do so responsibly. The overexploitation of oil is thus leading the earth back to its state, where it begins forming the oil due to global warming. Though it sounds ironic, the end of the oil age is probably going to the beginning of another face of oil formation.
