this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2025
346 points (99.4% liked)

Science Memes

12097 readers
1733 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Can we get new oil actually? I thought we now have organisms that can break down every organic matter and thus it can not really accumulate anymore?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

There's an abiotic pathway that creates new oil geologically. It's a very small amount.

The theory is popular in Russia, where it's claimed to be the main way oil is produced. That's complete bullshit. It turned out there is some, but not enough to matter.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oil actually comes from aquatic life (mostly plankton) that sinks to the sea floor and gets buried, squeezed and heated. Oil still forms today, but it's a process of millions of years.

Coal is formed from plants, and that does indeed require something doesn't eat it first. Swamps, for example, help a lot, letting the fallen trees sink down where most stuff can't eat it. Peat can also form into coal. Coal forms even slower than oil though, and it's much rarer, but it also doesn't require an ocean, so it's often more accessible for us land-living humans

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Coal is much rarer than oil? I have to look that up, I always thought there is far more coal.

Nope, there is about 3x more coal than oil.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

IIRC, all that coal comes from plant material from before there were microbes that can break down cellulose. Meaning that while it's possible to regenerate oil over millions of years, coal cannot.

So yes, there may be more of it now, but when we burn it, it's gone forever.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

If you squeeze a baby hard enough