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This will sound kind of stupid at first - but I was thinking... Where does all the oil go ?

* No, I am not stoned, and yes people have told me that I shouldn't think :). *

To clarify - you cannot create or destroy matter.

I was thinking about how much oil we consume on a daily basis ( in barrels ). We transform some of it into energy and some of it remains mass. The mass has to be building up somewhere and so does the energy.

So we pump billions of barrels of oil from the ground and burn it and make plastic etc..

The plastic ends up in landfills - that's easy.

The energy portion I think ultimately becomes heat for the most part. ( Once it becomes heat, I don't think it turns back into mass again )

For example, you burn gas to make kinetic energy which eventually turns to heat due to friction.

Then there's the smoke and stuff.... Yuck.

Which leaves me to wonder.....

A. Is the amount of heat we produce from oil significant enough to eventually toast our planet ( not factoring in co2 etc... )

B. How much physical space does the matter portion of oil take up ( above ground )

Ie. Its hard to visualize a "ton" of airborn pollutants.


C. A little off topic, but what happens when we eventually drain all these underground pockets of oil ? Do these pockets fill up with flamable/explosive vapor ? Do they eventually collapse (ie. In event of an earthquake)?

Just something to ponder...

Ie. Its hard to visualize a "ton" of airborn pollutants.


So I think you are basically looking for the answers about global warming.
It will be interesting to see what answers you get.

As for the stuff in the Air. Check out Global Dimming
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=global+dimming&aq=1&oq=global+d
some are thinking we have put enough stuff in the air that it is actually blocking light. Shading us. Just something I found interesting.

Trust WIKI....

The simple word equation for the combustion of a hydrocarbon in air is:

Fuel + Air (oxygen, nitrogen...) --> HEAT + Water + C02 + Nitrogen

So the fuel is converted to heat and combustion products (Water, carbon dioxide and Nitrogen) - no mass is created or destroyed.

Nitrogen may also oxidize when there is an excess of oxygen. The reaction is thermodynamically favored only at high temperatures. Diesel engines are run with an excess of oxygen to combust small particles that tend to form with only a stoichiometric amount of oxygen, necessarily producing nitrogen oxide emissions. Both the United States and European Union are planning to impose limits to nitrogen oxide emissions, which necessitate the use of a special catalytic converter or treatment of the exhaust with urea.

Just thinking out loud-how would this affect other means of transportation, like aviation and shipping?

C. A little off topic, but what happens when we eventually drain all these underground pockets of oil ? Do these pockets fill up with flamable/explosive vapor ? Do they eventually collapse (ie. In event of an earthquake)?



They usually inject water into the well to lift and force the last bits of recoverable oil out of the field so you end up with an oily water filled pocket.

Coal and salt mines are the ones that will occasionally collapse since they can leave a great cavity underground, especially if ground water seeps into the salt mine and dissolves the salt pillars holding up the roof.

Well, I thought this was going to be a question of used oil from sources like our cars. It does play into the equations mentioned above so, I will explain it anyways.

Used oil from automobiles or vehicles is recycled to some extent(everything is recycled in the end - some longer than others). Some oil is actually cleaned up and used again for the original purpose. Also, some of the oil is burned or used as fuel for kilns, incinerators, etc. Now, the emissions from the burning follow what the above posters have stated since it is not destroyed. In essence we will either consume the emissions by breathing directly or it will be absorbed/adsorbed to other materials or react with other compounds in the air to form other molecules that will undergo the former.