On Mon, 10 May 2004 03:17:58 +0000, Teacherjh wrote:


They've modeled the effect of a methane mega-bubble on bouyancy


Whazzat? Methane dissolved in the ocean to the extent that the water's density
goes down enough to sink a ship?

Jose


Well, I don't think it was dissolved. I recently watched a show called,
"Diving the Bermuda Triangle", or something like that. They showed
footage of a large area on the sea floor where steady streams of bubbles
popped up from the floor and rose to the surface. Seems this is called a
methane field. It's theorized that an undersea quake could cause the
floor to shift enough to release a huge bubble of methane. They did some
research to show that a large enough methane bubble could easily sink a
ship. They also tested to see what effect it would have on a plane's
motor. On a large rotory engine, only 1% methane contamination was
required to cause the engine to quit. Less than 1% was enough
to cause an RPM drop. As it approaches 1%, sputtering occurs and then
finally, the engine quiets.

This theory, while unproven, seems to get some support because the
"Bermuda Triangle" appears to have large methane fields scattered
throughout.

They hoped to use this knowledge to locate planes which were lost during
WWII. Oddly, they found 5-planes, that crashed at 5-different times that
were all within 1.5 miles of each other, but no known methane field
exists in the area. When reviewing the paperwork of the discovered
planes, it appears that several of the planes did sputter and quit.
And, the flight of planes which they expected to find in a methane field,
were not found. Go figure.

It was an interesting story.