4 ms·

Ask HN: BP oil spill and US

7 points by zeynel1 16y ago

united states is -the- engineering country of the world -first on the moon- landed on mars -when oil wells caught fire in saudi arabia or iraq it was us companies who knew how to stop it - when a ship founders it is us engineers who salvage it - oil industry itself started here - tallest buildings - longest bridges - this is a country built by engineers - why then doesnt the president issue an order to his engineers -money is no object stop that leak now- does anyone has an explanation why the us engineers cannot stop this leak

angrycoder 16y ago
The problem is the pressure and weight of the water combined with the temperature a mile below the sea. Nobody knows how to build stuff that deep under water, it is all hypothetical, unicorns and rainbows, that is the problem.
noonespecial 16y ago
The US didn't make it to the moon overnight or mars in a week. It took years of careful planning and failing and redoing. The oil companies promised everything was under control and covered any lingering doubts with political contributions (that's what we call bribes here). The leak is so deep it may as well be in outer space. The US will come up with a top notch oil well patching under thousands of feet of water solution, but it will take time. They just need to start on this solution a decade ago.
ghurlman 16y ago
Because once you leave hypotheticals behind, money is an object.
manvsmachine 16y ago
The depth at which this leak is happening elevates it to an entirely new problem compared to any previous spill. noonespecial was right when he said it may as well be in outer space; in fact, one of the lead engineers working on the problem was brought in due to his research adapting mining techniques for off-world situations. Having an army of engineers in a case like this is no more effective than mobilizing HN to tackle P vs NP.
- zeynel1 16y ago
  This is what I mean. It seems to me that US has lost its engineering can-do edge. In 1955 going to the moon looked like science fiction and impossible. But that was not a deterrent. If this leak happened 50 years ago, instead of coming up with excuses, US would have fixed it by now.
  - manvsmachine 16y ago
    We didn't go from zero to the moon's surface in 60 days. My point was that this isn't a numbers game; more engineers doesn't mean things will get done faster. Really, two months is not a long time at all considering what they are trying to accomplish. They don't really have the luxury anymore to be able to constantly experiment and iterate.
- byoung2 16y ago
  The depth at which this leak is happening elevates it to an entirely new problem compared to any previous spill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill The spill in 1979 was 160 feet deep compared to the current spill's depth of 5000 feet. The 1979 spill took 10 months to contain as all top kill attempts failed.

7 points by zeynel1 16y ago

angrycoder 16y ago

The problem is the pressure and weight of the water combined with the temperature a mile below the sea. Nobody knows how to build stuff that deep under water, it is all hypothetical, unicorns and rainbows, that is the problem.

noonespecial 16y ago

The US didn't make it to the moon overnight or mars in a week. It took years of careful planning and failing and redoing. The oil companies promised everything was under control and covered any lingering doubts with political contributions (that's what we call bribes here). The leak is so deep it may as well be in outer space. The US will come up with a top notch oil well patching under thousands of feet of water solution, but it will take time. They just need to start on this solution a decade ago.

ghurlman 16y ago

Because once you leave hypotheticals behind, money is an object.

manvsmachine 16y ago

The depth at which this leak is happening elevates it to an entirely new problem compared to any previous spill. noonespecial was right when he said it may as well be in outer space; in fact, one of the lead engineers working on the problem was brought in due to his research adapting mining techniques for off-world situations. Having an army of engineers in a case like this is no more effective than mobilizing HN to tackle P vs NP.

zeynel1 16y ago
This is what I mean. It seems to me that US has lost its engineering can-do edge. In 1955 going to the moon looked like science fiction and impossible. But that was not a deterrent. If this leak happened 50 years ago, instead of coming up with excuses, US would have fixed it by now.
- manvsmachine 16y ago
  We didn't go from zero to the moon's surface in 60 days. My point was that this isn't a numbers game; more engineers doesn't mean things will get done faster. Really, two months is not a long time at all considering what they are trying to accomplish. They don't really have the luxury anymore to be able to constantly experiment and iterate.
byoung2 16y ago
The depth at which this leak is happening elevates it to an entirely new problem compared to any previous spill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill The spill in 1979 was 160 feet deep compared to the current spill's depth of 5000 feet. The 1979 spill took 10 months to contain as all top kill attempts failed.