

Giant Plumes of Oil Forming Under the Gulf - ihodes
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/us/16oil.html

======
_delirium
It's interesting how little we know about some of this fluid-mixing stuff
still, despite the basic principles being centuries old, and simple versions
of the experiments being standard school experiments. I guess they're complex
enough that there's huge ranges of stuff where we don't have good enough
theoretical models, so only know what's been experimentally measured? In this
case, it was surprising to me for some reason that it's unknown how
dispersants will function at mile-deep water pressures; surely there's some
sort of model for that? Or is it just that we're not confident in the model?

Vaguely related, I ran across recently that apparently scientists don't yet
fully understand the effect that makes drinks like ouzo and absinthe get
cloudy-white when you add water, due to some sort of stable oil/water emulsion
being produced: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouzo_effect>

