echemi logo
Product
  • Product
  • Supplier
  • Inquiry
    Home > Chemicals Industry > Petrochemical News > Humans have to pump a lot of oil out of the ground every day, will the earth collapse because of this?

    Humans have to pump a lot of oil out of the ground every day, will the earth collapse because of this?

    • Last Update: 2023-02-17
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
    Search more information of high quality chemicals, good prices and reliable suppliers, visit www.echemi.com

    Oil is an oily liquid mineral produced by nature after hundreds of millions of years, known as the blood of industry, and is one of the most important resources of
    the earth today.
    Human transportation, buildings, weapons, and even clothing are inseparable from the material of oil, so in the eyes of many countries, oil has a very important strategic significance
    .
    In fact, humans have been extracting oil for a long time, and oil wells have appeared in the Middle East in the fifth century AD and oil has begun to be used in wars
    .
    Modern industrial civilization has accelerated the process of human oil extraction, considering the operation mode of oil extraction, many people are very worried, human beings have to extract a large amount of oil from the ground every day, will it lead to the collapse of the earth in the long run?

    The answer, of course, is no, and while it must be admitted that human oil extraction is indeed increasing, it will not have much impact on
    the planet.
    Modern oil extraction mainly uses the way of drilling and extraction, after detecting oil, although the oil well will be excavated, but it will not cause great damage
    to the geological structure.

    And oil as a flowing oily mineral, in the underground is not gathered in one piece, but is dispersed in the reservoir, that is, in the holes and crevices of the underground rock, even if the oil is withdrawn, the solidity of the rock will not change, so the possibility of the earth collapsing is really very small
    .

    Seeing here will certainly be questioned, quantitative change causes qualitative change, dripping water can also penetrate the stone, if the amount of oil mined by humans is too much, it is difficult to ensure that the geological structure will not be affected
    .
    Don't worry, scientists have long thought of this, in order to avoid this phenomenon, people will also inject water into the reservoir through the irrigation of the oil at the same time, filling the gap
    left by the oil after it is withdrawn.

    In this way, the fluid in the geological layer remains, but the material is replaced by water, which can help the rock share the pressure
    .
    Although this method of mining is somewhat troublesome, it minimizes the possibility of geological structure being altered and avoids ground subsidence accidents
    .

    And the Earth is far less fragile
    than humans think.
    From a geographical point of view, the radius of the earth is about 6371 kilometers, and when humans are engaged in oil extraction, the depth of the oil wells dug by humans is generally very shallow, mostly about
    10 kilometers.
    Among the oil wells currently dug by humans, the deepest well is Russia's Odoptu OP-11 well, which is only 12345 meters deep, less than 13 kilometers, so it seems that human oil extraction activities have not even broken through
    the earth's crust.
    Coupled with the inversion of fluid matter, people do not have to worry about oil extraction causing the earth to collapse
    .

    Of course, it must be admitted that the exploitation of oil activities has brought a certain negative impact on the global environment, and oil is a non-renewable resource, with a little less, so we cannot exploit and utilize the earth uncontrollably because the oil exploitation activities will not cause the earth to collapse, and we must cherish the earth's resources
    .

    This article is an English version of an article which is originally in the Chinese language on echemi.com and is provided for information purposes only. This website makes no representation or warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness ownership or reliability of the article or any translations thereof. If you have any concerns or complaints relating to the article, please send an email, providing a detailed description of the concern or complaint, to service@echemi.com. A staff member will contact you within 5 working days. Once verified, infringing content will be removed immediately.

    Contact Us

    The source of this page with content of products and services is from Internet, which doesn't represent ECHEMI's opinion. If you have any queries, please write to service@echemi.com. It will be replied within 5 days.

    Moreover, if you find any instances of plagiarism from the page, please send email to service@echemi.com with relevant evidence.