The Deep December 17, 2010 10:15 AM Subscribe
Trying to find a gulf oil spill graphic I saw on Metafilter.
Around the time of the Gulf oil spill someone posted a link to a beautiful graphic that made it clear just how very deep that oil well was. The thing was a long vertical illustration, and started with, I think, Mt. Everest, scrolled down through the world's tallest buildings, down through the grand canyon and other deep stuff on land, then into the ocean. It basically made it clear that the oil well itself was far deeper than humans can go, either by diving or by submarine.
It did not illustrate the repair strategies or the spread of the oil, simply compared the depth of the well to the heights and depths of other well-known things.
Can anybody point me to this?
Around the time of the Gulf oil spill someone posted a link to a beautiful graphic that made it clear just how very deep that oil well was. The thing was a long vertical illustration, and started with, I think, Mt. Everest, scrolled down through the world's tallest buildings, down through the grand canyon and other deep stuff on land, then into the ocean. It basically made it clear that the oil well itself was far deeper than humans can go, either by diving or by submarine.
It did not illustrate the repair strategies or the spread of the oil, simply compared the depth of the well to the heights and depths of other well-known things.
Can anybody point me to this?
Aha -- that'd be it. I was too busy searching in the oil spill context to remember to search in the "our amazing planet" aspect. Thanks so much!
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:31 AM on December 17, 2010
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:31 AM on December 17, 2010
That's a pretty cool infographic.. I never realized the well was that deep (or how high Mt. Everest and planes fly above the clouds)
posted by royalsong at 12:09 PM on December 17, 2010
posted by royalsong at 12:09 PM on December 17, 2010
It is pretty cool--I found myself describing it to a friend over the phone one night a couple months after reading that thread and realized I should probably just send her the link so she could see how awesome it was for herself. It does take a bit of finding (being so associated with the BP oil spill fiasco) but happily it's pretty distinctive and memorable.
posted by librarylis at 12:36 PM on December 17, 2010
posted by librarylis at 12:36 PM on December 17, 2010
And thank you for upping my favorites, BlahLaLa! :)
posted by Melismata at 12:42 PM on December 17, 2010
posted by Melismata at 12:42 PM on December 17, 2010
Wow, I missed that the first time around. What is amazing to me is that graphic shows pretty much the full region of what we, as people, use of the earth and it is about 70,000 feet, which is 21 Km. Of course the earth is 6,378 Km deep, which means that we are using about .33% of the place, which is practically nothing. We are kind of like a film of algae on the surface of the place.
posted by procrastination at 2:16 PM on December 17, 2010
posted by procrastination at 2:16 PM on December 17, 2010
We are kind of like a film of algae on the surface of the place.
I believe the statistic I heard once is that, even with all the apparent variation in elevation on the surface of the Earth, if you shrunk the planet down to the size of a billiard ball, the Earth would be smoother than the billiard ball. Might have been bowling ball, I forget.
posted by Rock Steady at 3:59 PM on December 17, 2010
I believe the statistic I heard once is that, even with all the apparent variation in elevation on the surface of the Earth, if you shrunk the planet down to the size of a billiard ball, the Earth would be smoother than the billiard ball. Might have been bowling ball, I forget.
posted by Rock Steady at 3:59 PM on December 17, 2010
Golf ball. Those things have all kinds of dimples and Marianas trenches and shit.
posted by box at 5:15 PM on December 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 5:15 PM on December 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
No, not golf ball. Billiard ball. The whole point here is that the peaks and trenches are almost completely negligible in comparison to the massive diameter of the Earth.
posted by Rhomboid at 6:51 PM on December 17, 2010
posted by Rhomboid at 6:51 PM on December 17, 2010
Yup yup. Bad joke/worse metaphor, that's all.
Also, the panels in a volleyball are totally like tectonic plates.
posted by box at 7:01 PM on December 17, 2010
Also, the panels in a volleyball are totally like tectonic plates.
posted by box at 7:01 PM on December 17, 2010
« Older Show That It's Awesome On the List, Not Just the... | Easier favoriting on the mobile version? Newer »
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by Melismata at 10:20 AM on December 17, 2010 [2 favorites]