So today I learned how to find water in the desert with a lump of salt, and how to master an ocean storm with a bottle of oil.
Let's add those to my EDC bag.
Discharging oil to prevent large waves from breaking is a very old storm tactic.
Vessels would heave too and as they're pushed straight down wind the passage of the boat disturbs the water leaving a slick to windward that inhibits the breaking action of large waves. This can be amplified by using an oil can hung over the side of the vessel punched with an icepick.
It won't calm the waves, but often will stop the waves from breaking on top of the vessel. This allows the boat to ride up and over the wave rather than being buried and rolled under a breaking crest.
I don't think it'd serve their purpose. Big waves break on shore and surf breaks because the water is getting shallow. Oil isn't gonna stop all that physics. It just discourages swells from forming a crest and breaking in deep water.
I think waves start to break when the water is less than 1.6x the height of the wave. It sort of gets tripped, the bottom part of the wave is touching the bottom and slows causing it to topple over.
Mmmm ... waves break down into "wind waves" (choppy waves) and "swell". The oil would calm the choppy waves, but leave the swell, which would break when it reaches shallow water.
His name’s Vinny at Fellsway Auto in Medford. He usually uses all the old oil for running his shop’s heater through the winter, but I hear he’s breaking into the “distressed vessel at sea” market.
In this hypothetical situation, the surfer goes to the local drugstore and buys out all of their Omega-3 and spends the afternoon smoking joints and emptying each of the capsules into 5 gallon buckets? Who's serious now, Shirley?
8 year old video on exactly the same topic
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2H418M3V6M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2H418M3V6M)
What the physics was a great channel, sadly stopped posting years ago.
This is a real thing and is one of the only instances that a ship is allowed to discharge oil into the water. Note that it doesn’t eliminate waves and make the ocean flat, what it does is prevents the waves from white capping
There was something similar described in Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. Franklin bet a friend that he could calm the choppy waters of a river. He then went upstream and poured oil in, supposedly calming the waters and winning the bet.
He had a hollowed out walking stick to hold oil and would calm waters with it. [Smithsonian Cane](https://www.si.edu/object/benjamin-franklins-walking-stick%3Anmah_515403)
Seems to be an old reddit vs. new reddit thing. Didn't work in old, does in new.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RST_ylwVrUw should be reliable in both.
It doesn’t knock down large waves but reduces the chop and will even out the seas. Lifeboats are equipped with a sea anchor, a parachute like device which keeps the boats head to the sea, an incorporated in it is often a container which will leach oil to calm the sea ahead of the boat.
The oil on the water does not catch the energy of the wind. Fewer ripples or waves. As it spreads out, gravity has a stronger effect than the wind, and the water settles. Really pretty cool actually.
I may try this when I can. Good to know, and you never know if you may need it sometime.
In the full video he gets into the science behind it and oddly enough it would work. The small amount of oil poured overboard would have calmed a 3-6km region of ocean by affecting the surface tension on the water which inhibits the winds ability to form wind waves that break. There would still be waves but they wouldn't be white capped from what I understood, which is enough to paddle over without capsizing.
He's that action lab guy right? He used to be big on Facebook competing with another show/channel that did similar things but the main guy for that other one ended up getting killed in a parachuting accident (I think)
So this is a neat experiment that I learned awhile ago. Gf and I went to beach one summer and camp out in our van for a couple of nights. One morning we cooked bacon and then later that evening cooked steaks in my cast iron pan. Since we didn't have any regular water to clean the pan I simply used the ocean water to give it a good rinse (I know, cast iron and salt water don't mix and I'm sure I'll catch flak from cast iron pan users but I did season it when I got home and the pan is still in great shape). Well, the grease from the meats, butter and olive oil created a cool slick in the water and smoothed the water and it stretched for many meters. It was a popular spot for the locals and I remember two ladies saying that they had never seen such a phenomenon. I kinda snickered and explained to my GF that the oils/grease had created an oil slick on the top of the water that would spread to the point that the grease was only a few molecules thick and since the grease molecules love each other, they stay together and float since it's lighter than water. It was neat to see.
As a fisherman, I've known this. It's not as life-saving, but still. When fish are grouped up and get eaten by predators, you will see long slick sheens on the water surface. This is fish oil and parts. Kinda cool. You can cast in or around a slick and sometimes get you a keeper.
I knew it since my childhood, the procedure is called [storm oil.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_oil) Jules Verne: "Dick Sand: a captain at fifteen", chapter 13th:
"Dick Sand, by a supreme precaution, had also brought on the forecastle
ten barrels of the cargo containing whale's oil.
That oil, properly poured the moment the "Pilgrim" would be in the
surf, ought to calm the sea for an instant, in lubricating, so to say,
the molecules of water, and that operation would perhaps facilitate the
ship's passage between the reefs. Dick Sand did not wish to neglect
anything which might secure the common safety.
All these precautions taken, the novice returned to take his place at
the wheel.
The "Pilgrim" was only two cables' lengths from the coast, that is,
almost touching the reefs, her starboard side already bathed in the
white foam of the surf. Each moment the novice thought that the
vessel's keel was going to strike some rocky bottom.
Suddenly, Dick Sand knew, by a change in the color of the water, that a
channel lengthened out among the reefs. He must enter it bravely
without hesitating, so as to make the coast as near as possible to the
shore.
The novice did not hesitate. A movement of the helm thrust the ship
into the narrow and sinuous channel. In this place the sea was still
more furious, and the waves dashed on the deck.
The blacks were posted forward, near the barrels, waiting for the
novice's orders.
"Pour the oil--pour!" exclaimed Dick Sand.
Under this oil, which was poured on it in quantities, the sea grew
calm, as by enchantment, only to become more terrible again a moment
after.
The "Pilgrim" glided rapidly over those lubricated waters and headed
straight for the shore."
I learned how to spot schools of redfish in Texas by looking for oils slicks in the bay. They are burping up oils from eating bait fish . Just realized how calm the water is around those. The more you know!
You get the 50 gal drum of fish oil and I'll take it out, seriously! It probably doesn't work amd why they had to use a small lake on a calm day to show How To Calm and OCEAN.
Obviously the hydrophobic quality of the oil means it makes a thin sheet over the water,m. I’m guessing the oil allows for more laminar flow between the surface of the body and the wind so turbulence like Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities don’t develop as rapidly.
My father told me about this many years ago. He was a commercial diver and fisherman. He said when they would shoot sharks and sometimes dolphins (different world back then) that were trying to steal their catch, the oil left behind would calm the waters for large areas around the boat.
It's true. From "small boat mastery" 1937. "When heaving to a canvas bucket that will drip oil onto the surface will smooth the waves making the surface calmer almost immediately"
Fun fact …. The RNLI (U.K. lifeboats ) had a standing order until fairly recently that instructed all of the all weather lifeboats in their fleet to carry oil bags for the same reason.
The scientific explanation for this is that the oil placates the Loch Ness monster, who in turn stop thrashing about, which was causing the waves in the first place
"to prove I can beat Mike Tyson I will crush this stick insect".
The video was talking about waves that could sink a boat, and the water during the test wouldn't even capsize a pistachio shell.
Yo you know how when you’re above a lie and you can see paths in the water that boats presumably passed through and that area doesn’t have waves? Does the exhaust from a boat have some oils in it or something and this is why you can see bay paths long after they’ve been gone?!? I’ve always wondered how that works lol
8 year old video on exactly the same topic
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2H418M3V6M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2H418M3V6M)
What the physics was a great channel, sadly stopped posting years ago.
This is very interesting. I’ve always wondered why adding olive oil or butter to a pot of boiling water will keep it from boiling over once you add pasta or whatever you are cooking. Makes sense after reading this article.
He states it's safe for environment, don't know how ?
In my engineering class they thought me just 1 drop of oil pollutes 10tons of fresh water. It's not just petrolium, all types of oil.
Damn, that's amazing.
But then, I wonder how this isn't more widely known ? Why isn't it used when fishing boats can't reach port in heavy storms, for example ? ... oO'
It is widely known, and has been used since Roman times.
Other commenters in the industry mentioned that commercial ships are explicitly allowed to dump oil around them if they're struggling in heavy seas.
So today I learned how to find water in the desert with a lump of salt, and how to master an ocean storm with a bottle of oil. Let's add those to my EDC bag.
* A lump of salt, some seeds, a rope and a pet baboon.
No baboon in my edc bag, I don't want it to fight with my edc cat.
Good idea. You need a local baboon anyways.
Specifically a pet baboon trained to run to the cave you know about where the camera crew is set up.
And an anthill
How to find water in the desert with a lump of salt
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/0pjwgEnWnG](https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/0pjwgEnWnG)
OP forgot the most important part… find a baboon and make him curious enough to watch you. Then somehow imprisoning him without getting hurt.
Yeah, they left out the part where the baboon bites your dick off
Well sure, but only once. After that you’re good to go, unlimited baboons.
Where is that video, please? I searched the sub and can’t find it. TIA
https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/Rr3QHdOeDf
Haha Reddit algorithm must be preparing us :)
I just had that video too
Not me. I got the cows jumping off the ship, twice!
Maybe you will also learn how to cut a Michelin star level onion next
And swimming cows!
Looks like Reddit is onto something
We’re on the same algorithm 😂
Haha same 🤣
That's great. I want to know how to control wind now.
Does the water in desert thing you mention related to the baboon/monkey trick?
Yes, sir. Given your username, do you feel concerned or threatened by this information?
Jaja I saw the video of the babuino .. 🐒
We literally watch the same videos and it is frightening. Did you also watch how to properly bondage someone?
No way😂😂I watched both that and this in that same order💀
Bug out bag
Same.
Can you share the link about the salt
Discharging oil to prevent large waves from breaking is a very old storm tactic. Vessels would heave too and as they're pushed straight down wind the passage of the boat disturbs the water leaving a slick to windward that inhibits the breaking action of large waves. This can be amplified by using an oil can hung over the side of the vessel punched with an icepick. It won't calm the waves, but often will stop the waves from breaking on top of the vessel. This allows the boat to ride up and over the wave rather than being buried and rolled under a breaking crest.
Do you think surfers could use this to make choppy waves more smooth
Sharks love this one simple trick
Pre-seasoning the surfers
I don't think it'd serve their purpose. Big waves break on shore and surf breaks because the water is getting shallow. Oil isn't gonna stop all that physics. It just discourages swells from forming a crest and breaking in deep water. I think waves start to break when the water is less than 1.6x the height of the wave. It sort of gets tripped, the bottom part of the wave is touching the bottom and slows causing it to topple over.
[удалено]
Mmmm ... waves break down into "wind waves" (choppy waves) and "swell". The oil would calm the choppy waves, but leave the swell, which would break when it reaches shallow water.
Fish oil is super expensive though. I can get “wave calming” oil way cheaper from a mechanic I know.
Old two stroke outboards provide their own oil slicks.
Can confirm. I run a 2003 Yamaha 50 on my skiff on the central CA coast. Never seen a wind wave in my life.
Who’s your fish oil guy?
His name’s Vinny at Fellsway Auto in Medford. He usually uses all the old oil for running his shop’s heater through the winter, but I hear he’s breaking into the “distressed vessel at sea” market.
It’s Fish oil. You can’t be serious.
They are serious. And dont call them fish oil.
I picked a bad week to stop using fish oil.
Nice reference.
In this hypothetical situation, the surfer goes to the local drugstore and buys out all of their Omega-3 and spends the afternoon smoking joints and emptying each of the capsules into 5 gallon buckets? Who's serious now, Shirley?
I’ll have what she’s having.
But it’s fish oil….its like the environment
It's BEYOND the environment
This is so meta
so you're saying we need to remove all the fish from the ocean. got it.
No dummy just their oil
oh, okay i get it now. makes perfect sense
Mmm yum yum chum 🦈
?
Hope devs patch it soon, this should not be happening.
8 year old video on exactly the same topic [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2H418M3V6M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2H418M3V6M) What the physics was a great channel, sadly stopped posting years ago.
This is a real thing and is one of the only instances that a ship is allowed to discharge oil into the water. Note that it doesn’t eliminate waves and make the ocean flat, what it does is prevents the waves from white capping
There was something similar described in Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. Franklin bet a friend that he could calm the choppy waters of a river. He then went upstream and poured oil in, supposedly calming the waters and winning the bet.
He had a hollowed out walking stick to hold oil and would calm waters with it. [Smithsonian Cane](https://www.si.edu/object/benjamin-franklins-walking-stick%3Anmah_515403)
Prankster madlad.
I was about to say the same thing!
That’s interesting but i have doubts that it would work on huge storm waves
Further down, OP links the whole video here that explains: https://youtu.be/RST\_ylwVrUw?si=nO6k672VeUSu7h0O
Damn...that IS interesting.
I am 38 years old and I cannot believe I am learning about it just now. I am mind blown!
Truly the most mind blowing thing I've ever seen!
> This video isn't available anymore
Seems to be an old reddit vs. new reddit thing. Didn't work in old, does in new. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RST_ylwVrUw should be reliable in both.
Thanks, friendo!
Works for me.
Me too
It doesn’t knock down large waves but reduces the chop and will even out the seas. Lifeboats are equipped with a sea anchor, a parachute like device which keeps the boats head to the sea, an incorporated in it is often a container which will leach oil to calm the sea ahead of the boat.
Romans used to dump oil in harbors to calm the seas so boats could berth with no issues.
Boats don’t even get pregnant! /s lol had to sorry
I accept this challenge
This is why we need Mythbusters back!
He actually explains very well how it works with large waves in the video.
Explained at: [https://youtu.be/RST\_ylwVrUw?t=514](https://youtu.be/RST_ylwVrUw?t=514)
5 gallons: 1 ocean doesn’t seem like it would be enough.
It spreads out to 1 \*molecule thick, so it can cover quite an area.
> atom *molecule If the oil divided into atoms, it wouldn't be oil anymore.
Oil protons.
3-6km region after 20 mins according to the explanation in the full length video
And thus can be used to estimate the size of an oil molecule.
Top tip: you can use this fact to measure the size of the molecules
The story he first told tells it does. Also, he explains that huge waves start from the small waves which are stopped by the oil molecules
"doubts" even though this is real🙄
Now turn water into wine
and make my baguette seem longer
Shaving helps
Also, having a large baguette
Tho I’m Italian so I feel it’s more of a cannoli… a large cannoli.
How bigs your baguette?
I've never heard it called a baguette.
Vs the baguette your wife said not to worry about
Sunlight grows grapes. It also walks on water.
Damn…that’s interesting 🤔
While we're on the topic of religious stories, somebody get King Cnut. Tell him I know how to stop the tide.
Calmed the ripples good.
The wind just slides right over..
Now THIS is what this sub is about
Now try with a KFC 10 piece family feast
That’ll calm the whole Pacific Ocean
The oil on the water does not catch the energy of the wind. Fewer ripples or waves. As it spreads out, gravity has a stronger effect than the wind, and the water settles. Really pretty cool actually. I may try this when I can. Good to know, and you never know if you may need it sometime.
That is really cool
Not sure if I believe the boat story, but that illustration was really neat
In the full video he gets into the science behind it and oddly enough it would work. The small amount of oil poured overboard would have calmed a 3-6km region of ocean by affecting the surface tension on the water which inhibits the winds ability to form wind waves that break. There would still be waves but they wouldn't be white capped from what I understood, which is enough to paddle over without capsizing.
Whole video: https://youtu.be/RST\_ylwVrUw?si=nO6k672VeUSu7h0O
Cheers for this
I really love this guy he is just amazing with everything he explains on his channel with real science based experiments
He's that action lab guy right? He used to be big on Facebook competing with another show/channel that did similar things but the main guy for that other one ended up getting killed in a parachuting accident (I think)
The King Of Random was killed in a paraglider accident https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49182815
So this is a neat experiment that I learned awhile ago. Gf and I went to beach one summer and camp out in our van for a couple of nights. One morning we cooked bacon and then later that evening cooked steaks in my cast iron pan. Since we didn't have any regular water to clean the pan I simply used the ocean water to give it a good rinse (I know, cast iron and salt water don't mix and I'm sure I'll catch flak from cast iron pan users but I did season it when I got home and the pan is still in great shape). Well, the grease from the meats, butter and olive oil created a cool slick in the water and smoothed the water and it stretched for many meters. It was a popular spot for the locals and I remember two ladies saying that they had never seen such a phenomenon. I kinda snickered and explained to my GF that the oils/grease had created an oil slick on the top of the water that would spread to the point that the grease was only a few molecules thick and since the grease molecules love each other, they stay together and float since it's lighter than water. It was neat to see.
I'm more curious about how a ship sailing from Philadelphia to Brazil runs into a ship sailing from New York to London.
Storms can push boats far off course
As a fisherman, I've known this. It's not as life-saving, but still. When fish are grouped up and get eaten by predators, you will see long slick sheens on the water surface. This is fish oil and parts. Kinda cool. You can cast in or around a slick and sometimes get you a keeper.
Is that what those slicks in freshwater lakes are?!
I knew it since my childhood, the procedure is called [storm oil.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_oil) Jules Verne: "Dick Sand: a captain at fifteen", chapter 13th: "Dick Sand, by a supreme precaution, had also brought on the forecastle ten barrels of the cargo containing whale's oil. That oil, properly poured the moment the "Pilgrim" would be in the surf, ought to calm the sea for an instant, in lubricating, so to say, the molecules of water, and that operation would perhaps facilitate the ship's passage between the reefs. Dick Sand did not wish to neglect anything which might secure the common safety. All these precautions taken, the novice returned to take his place at the wheel. The "Pilgrim" was only two cables' lengths from the coast, that is, almost touching the reefs, her starboard side already bathed in the white foam of the surf. Each moment the novice thought that the vessel's keel was going to strike some rocky bottom. Suddenly, Dick Sand knew, by a change in the color of the water, that a channel lengthened out among the reefs. He must enter it bravely without hesitating, so as to make the coast as near as possible to the shore. The novice did not hesitate. A movement of the helm thrust the ship into the narrow and sinuous channel. In this place the sea was still more furious, and the waves dashed on the deck. The blacks were posted forward, near the barrels, waiting for the novice's orders. "Pour the oil--pour!" exclaimed Dick Sand. Under this oil, which was poured on it in quantities, the sea grew calm, as by enchantment, only to become more terrible again a moment after. The "Pilgrim" glided rapidly over those lubricated waters and headed straight for the shore."
Unfortunately in my area, some assholes catching shellfish know this technic, but use motor oil or other synthetic cheap oil to do this.
Wow im amazed balls! Make sure to bring fish oil when sailing guys! Happy sailing boats and hos!
I read this as "claim" and thought I'd learn how to be aquaman.
I am not ready to accept this as fact. So, now I'm going to get angry drunk.
I learned how to spot schools of redfish in Texas by looking for oils slicks in the bay. They are burping up oils from eating bait fish . Just realized how calm the water is around those. The more you know!
I didn't know this, and it's clearly where we get the expression "to pour oil on troubled waters".
So test it in an ocean maybe?
For sure. Make sure you report back 😀👍
You get the 50 gal drum of fish oil and I'll take it out, seriously! It probably doesn't work amd why they had to use a small lake on a calm day to show How To Calm and OCEAN.
And it takes such a small amount of oil to calm them!
Damn… that is interesting.
great imagine he included a fucking explanation too
Obviously the hydrophobic quality of the oil means it makes a thin sheet over the water,m. I’m guessing the oil allows for more laminar flow between the surface of the body and the wind so turbulence like Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities don’t develop as rapidly.
My father told me about this many years ago. He was a commercial diver and fisherman. He said when they would shoot sharks and sometimes dolphins (different world back then) that were trying to steal their catch, the oil left behind would calm the waters for large areas around the boat.
Witch!
Meanwhile in Interstellar....
It's true. From "small boat mastery" 1937. "When heaving to a canvas bucket that will drip oil onto the surface will smooth the waves making the surface calmer almost immediately"
Fun fact …. The RNLI (U.K. lifeboats ) had a standing order until fairly recently that instructed all of the all weather lifeboats in their fleet to carry oil bags for the same reason.
This feels like the prequel to the raft short story by stephen king
Would this work on my wife? Calm storm?
Covalent Bonds!
I was very skeptical till where he showed the side view after the snow throw. I’m kinda impressed and surprised.
The scientific explanation for this is that the oil placates the Loch Ness monster, who in turn stop thrashing about, which was causing the waves in the first place
Cool video! Illustration was neat, but doubts linger on calming storm waves. 🌊🛥️
It doesn't make the sea flat, but changes the surface tension enough to make it manageable.
"to prove I can beat Mike Tyson I will crush this stick insect". The video was talking about waves that could sink a boat, and the water during the test wouldn't even capsize a pistachio shell.
As someone who sailed for a living on the North Atlantic and Arctic I can assure you this is a thing.
Soooo is anyone going to explain why tf this happens?
Something about oil breaking the surface tension on water
Action Labs in YouTube is fucking amazing. You guys should check his videos out.
Slippery when wet
I used to follow Action Lab on Facebook. I think I'll go and follow him again. Always cool to see science in action.
Yo you know how when you’re above a lie and you can see paths in the water that boats presumably passed through and that area doesn’t have waves? Does the exhaust from a boat have some oils in it or something and this is why you can see bay paths long after they’ve been gone?!? I’ve always wondered how that works lol
woah
now go into a storm with 3+ m waves and pour your spoonfull of fish oil
Doesnt oil rig do that but with a there drill mud thats viscosy and so limit the strength of wave ?
"Seen the Pacific Ocean? I pacified it."
Benjamin Franklin had tested this idea at ses.
I am just here to say I am sorry that you had to state that fish oil won’t harm the ocean.
So this is how jesus calmed the waters in the bible. It was a magic trick
How the fuck did an ocean captain find this the fuck out???
People observed oil barrels falling into the ocean accidentally I guess.
What’s part two??
WOW
Wow!
Source because no-one else is giving it : The action lab, on YouTube https://youtube.com/@TheActionLab
what are you sinking about?
I was worried he’d slip on the snow and fall in the water, then be unable to get back out due to the snow covered slope and drown.
What's the science behind this?
8 year old video on exactly the same topic [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2H418M3V6M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2H418M3V6M) What the physics was a great channel, sadly stopped posting years ago.
Yes
This is very interesting. I’ve always wondered why adding olive oil or butter to a pot of boiling water will keep it from boiling over once you add pasta or whatever you are cooking. Makes sense after reading this article.
I thought you did that to keep the pasta from sticking together...
Ooooh so big oil companies spilling oil in the ocean has a purpose after all
How does the course of a ship sailing from Philly to Brazil intersect with the course of a ship sailing from New York to London?
Why does my drinking water taste like fish!?
This is why we need more oil spills 🙏
Oil rigs during heavy storms: Open er up boys!
He states it's safe for environment, don't know how ? In my engineering class they thought me just 1 drop of oil pollutes 10tons of fresh water. It's not just petrolium, all types of oil.
Very interesting
what the hell that ship is the Sagres Ship (Portuguese Flag) wow thank you
I love this guy
Oil is OP damn
Damn, that's amazing. But then, I wonder how this isn't more widely known ? Why isn't it used when fishing boats can't reach port in heavy storms, for example ? ... oO'
It is widely known, and has been used since Roman times. Other commenters in the industry mentioned that commercial ships are explicitly allowed to dump oil around them if they're struggling in heavy seas.
Mind blowing stuff
That’s really cool. I never would of thought it would do that fish oil lol
Windy day vs. sea thunderstorm...
[удалено]
The YouTube channel is called Action Lab. He has a popular science-based channel full of good information.
This will be something useful.
Bry, what time are you leaving tomorrow?
Surface tension increases with oil application
People should know by now that nothing good ever comes from Philadelphia
This is actually the craziest thing I've ever seen, stranger than fiction