Methane hydrate, a natural
gas, is not widely known about amongst
many. Basically, nowadays scientists are
evaluating is for use as fuel since it has a lot of energy. There is enough methane locked in ice on the
bottom of ocean floors to supply energy for many years to come. Here is a map showing methane hydrates on
ocean floors.
Methane hydrates for at low
temperature, such as in freezing ocean floors and permafrost, and under high
pressure. In an article I recently read
about in the news, it discusses how a scientists underwater robot discovered an
object that appeared to be a dirty glowing snowball, like the ones found plowed
on the edge of a snowy sidewalk. Because it was glowing the scientist knew that
it must contain methane hydrate. Methane
hydrate is a lattice of ice cages which could light you on fire if you grabbed
the snowball containing it! It is also known as “fiery ice”.It looks like ice
but starts burning when an open flame is brought close to it. Theses hydrate
deposits are found a lot in deep ocean floors.
The cage like structure of
Methane hyrate:
The
red are water molecules and the green is a methane molecule
http://www.mh21japan.gr.jp/english/mh21-1/01-2/
No comments:
Post a Comment