How many raptors of crude oil did I burn on my way to work?

June 2, 2004 8:53 PM

This is a weird question that just popped in my head. Crude oil is usually made from the ancient biomass, which may include both plant and animal material. Let's say that in the crude oil that was used to create the gas for my car was made of all dinosaurs -- specifically, a mass grave of thousands of raptors. On my typical daily commute (30km, or 18.64 miles), how many raptors have I burnt? Let's use a conservative 20 miles per gallon, round up, and say I used a gallon of gasoline. I've done some preliminary analysis, so [More Inside]
posted by sleslie to Grab Bag (21 answers total)

I don't know how many, since they came in so many shapes an sizes, but MAN can you think of a more thorough subjugation of another species that blowing their fossil-fuel remains out your goddamn tailpipe as you gun it up a freeway on-ramp?
posted by scarabic at 8:55 PM on June 2, 2004

Response by poster: This wonderful page says that there are 19.5 gallons of gasoline created for every barrel of crude oil.

This page says that "Petroleum or crude oil has a high energy density, which is approximately 45 MJ/kg."

Excuse me while I wring out my high school chemistry from my head.
posted by sleslie at 8:56 PM on June 2, 2004

Response by poster: Raptors are 10lbs-50lbs.

Let's be extra cruel, and say that all of the raptors in my mass grave were child raptors. 10lbs a raptor.
posted by sleslie at 9:03 PM on June 2, 2004

mill-yuns and bill-yuns...
posted by loquacious at 9:11 PM on June 2, 2004

This site claims it take 98 TONS of ye olde plants to make 1 gallon of gas.
posted by falconred at 9:38 PM on June 2, 2004

*all "gal" is really "gallons of gasoline"
(10 lbs / raptor) * (1 ft^3/ 46.81 lb) = 0.2136 ft^3 / raptor
0.2136 ft^3 * (7.481 gal / 1 ft^3 ) = 1.598 gal / raptor
assuming 20 miles / gallon....
(1.598 gal / raptor) * (20 miles / gal) = 31.96 miles/raptor
(31.96 miles/raptor) * (days / 18.64 miles) = 1.7147 days / raptor
or, take the inverse and you get
.5832 raptors / day
...or something like that
posted by jmd82 at 9:44 PM on June 2, 2004

shhhh, skallas, you're ruining our fun!
posted by jmd82 at 9:47 PM on June 2, 2004

From what i hear, there is actually some doubt as to whether fossil fuels actually come from vegetable biomass.
posted by bshort at 10:22 PM on June 2, 2004

i have a hard time believing 46.81 lb/ft^3 for a cold blooded birdlike animal. were the raptors bones lighter then those associated with humans, how exactly would one determine the density of an animal that is extinct for millions of years (man, were's archimedes when you need him)?
posted by NGnerd at 10:28 PM on June 2, 2004

I'm wondering if animal fossil sourced petroleum based lip balm (Chapstick) means that kosher keeping Jews have to wait hours in between protecting their lips and drinking milk.

Previous answers are "Oh, great," and "What do I look like, a rabbi?!"
posted by NortonDC at 10:30 PM on June 2, 2004

I don't care how many, what I want to know is where are all the high-octane raptors buried?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:36 PM on June 2, 2004

Eh, I went on the assumption of a 1:1 ratio of raptor mass:hydrocarbon mass, which is obviously a load of BS. The value I used is the density for gasoline.
posted by jmd82 at 11:00 PM on June 2, 2004

bshort: I read a rebuttal that pretty much blew that theory out of the water.

The density of dinosaurs was likely about the same as chickens or alligators.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:06 PM on June 2, 2004

metafilter: where all the high-octane raptors are buried.
posted by juv3nal at 1:21 AM on June 3, 2004

Best answer: I swear this was answered by Unca Cecil's Straight Dope years ago, but maybe it didn't make it into the website. Basically, he said what Skallas wrote, "Stop kidding yourself."

But here is Google Answers: How many tyrannosaurs in a gallon of gasoline?
posted by planetkyoto at 1:25 AM on June 3, 2004

I'm thinking that only a small percentage of raptor-mass is convertable into fossil fuel, given the large quantity of water involved, and mineral structures like bones. One would also assume that conversion from raptor to crude oil would not necessarily involve the conversion of every atom of raptor-carbon into hydrocarbons - surely, a significant proportion would be lost to other products, such as carbon dioxide? It's important to consider the inital decay process as well - how much of the original raptor was digested by other creatures / fungi / bacteria and respired?
posted by Jimbob at 4:16 AM on June 3, 2004

I can't believe that Google researcher only got $10 for that answer. One of the finest answers I have ever seen, there or here.
posted by luser at 5:52 AM on June 3, 2004

I'm wondering if animal fossil sourced petroleum based lip balm (Chapstick) means that kosher keeping Jews have to wait hours in between protecting their lips and drinking milk

NortonDC: no.

One may even apply non-kosher ingredients to one's lips (e.g. lipstick, lip balm). This is true even though one may inadvertently swallow traces of lipstick that mix with food. These trace amounts of lipstick are batel b'shishim (1:60 or less).

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posted by jessamyn at 6:25 AM on June 3, 2004

Raptors may weigh more than 10-50 lbs. Do a google search for "super raptors," whose skeletons I've seen at the museum up the street here in Utah.

Jessamyn: the batel b'shishim tolerances are fascinating.
posted by mecran01 at 6:33 AM on June 3, 2004

Response by poster: Coal seems to form when the normal process of decay cannot cope with a large biomass, and the carbon content slowly reaches about 90%. Say would decay really count? Also, the original google answer took into consideration that 18% of a typical animal is carbon, and did not take into consideration bone mass. Reasonable assumptions, but I think a mineral science / organic chemistry expert would be handy. Another thing I read is that animals with a higher 'oil' content contribute higher amounts of crude oil to a field than animals whose oil content is less, as the carbon based molecules of fat closely resembe the hydro-carbon chains of crude oil molecules..

Anyway, this question isn't truly answerable, so let's just use the google answer and plug in the raptors' stats...

1 T Rex equals 460 gallons, and
1 T Rex equals 1322.78 raptors (6000 kg / T Rex and 4.5359 kg / raptor),
so by applying this ratio to the gallons per T Rex ratio,
1 raptor equals 0.3478 gallons of gasoline. Now, take the inverse, and we get...

2.87 raptors / gallon, or 0.154 rpm (raptors per mile).

Awesome! 3 child raptors a day!!
posted by sleslie at 11:21 AM on June 3, 2004

Response by poster: apologies; my writing has been garbage in the last week. No more posting until I can grab some more time for previewing...
posted by sleslie at 11:26 AM on June 3, 2004