Gulf Oil Spill: Bill Nye Explains BP's Latest Efforts To Cap Gushing Oil Leak (VIDEO)

CNN turns to Bill Nye (the Science Guy) to help explain how BP's new containment cap is supposed to work. His use of physical props and layman's language helps translate the often complicated efforts stem the oil gushing into the Gulf.

BP experienced major setbacks yesterday.

WATCH:

Comments

[theistus]

06:19 AM on 07/17/2010

lol, nice homemade bong!

[Sonofabeach]

01:33 AM on 07/17/2010

This guy cracks me up

[rtb61]

12:53 AM on 07/17/2010

People are being mislead by science. Monitoring pressure is largely pointless due to flow rates. You have this small pipe leaving a massive high pressure oil reserve, you could literally have several drill strings leaving that reserve with no appreciable difference in pressure or flow.
That BP is pursuing the pressure lie is indicative they are fully aware of oil flow around the external casing of the pipe which is being diffused away from the well head, where they are carefully focusing their cameras and lights, via sea bed sediments.
An example would be to go to Hoover Dan an drill a 7 inch hole into the dam wall, measure the flow and pressure and then drill a second identical 7 inch hole a few feet away and expect there to be a significant drop in flow or pressure at either hole, the reality is the change in pressure and flow would be so insignificant as to be largely unmeasurable and the same is true in this case, just another lie being put forward by BP to hide what they have already discovered, the casing has failed.

[powder chowder]

11:01 AM on 07/18/2010

Not to defend BP, but you obviously didn't listen to Bill's explaination.

[aleakbar]

10:46 PM on 07/15/2010

Great quote from Rove in the WSJ: about the biggest mistake in the Bush White House, not combating the Dems charge that "Bush Lied, People Died".
"Saying the commander-in-chief intentionally lied America into war is about the most serious accusation that can be leveled at a president. The charge was false—and it opened the way for politicians in both parties to move the debate from differences over issues into ad hominem attacks.

At the time, we in the Bush White House discussed responding but decided not to relitigate the past. That was wrong and my mistake: I should have insisted to the president that this was a dagger aimed at his administration's heart. What Democrats started seven years ago left us less united as a nation to confront foreign challenges and overcome America's enemies."

[nexxtep54]

04:27 PM on 07/15/2010

Cool ! This independent idea clearinghouse site; www.bpspillsolutions.com/BPspill/default.asp should get Bill Nuy to assess some of the ideas that people will be posting.

[ReligiousWar]

04:05 PM on 07/15/2010

Who is talking about what we can do to stop using oil. At least for transportation. All this news coverage and 90% or more is about no solution, more of the same or clean up the mess.

I am only interested innovation. How can we stop using oil?

[aleakbar]

10:47 PM on 07/15/2010

Easy, go to electric cars, charge with energy produced from coal, not oil, much cheaper and cleaner.

[ReligiousWar]

12:21 AM on 07/16/2010

There is no such thing as clean coal. Electricity must be produced without coal or oil fuels or bio fuel. We can develop hydro, solar and wind technologies to produce all the energy we need without burning coal, oil or bio fuel. There is no reason to throw away your French fry grease but there is also no reason to grow you own gas either. The technology is there we just need to change from an oil based infrastructure to a renewable energy one and we need more innovation to improve these technologies and invent new ones.

[looneydoone]

09:01 PM on 07/18/2010

how about lithium powered batteries. Didn't the US Military just "discover" a trillion $$ worth of that resource in Afghanistan?

[paulo one]

03:47 PM on 07/15/2010

Bill Nye the Science Guy uses Penis Pump to Explain #BP's Latest Efforts To Cap Gushing Oil Leak... http://huff.to/aqhJ8N #oilspill

[Murphdogg]

04:31 PM on 07/15/2010

As it was close, it was a convenient prop. Fanned.

[Telemachus]

06:10 PM on 07/15/2010

I would've preferred he use D*ck Cheney's heart pump.

[looneydoone]

08:33 PM on 07/18/2010

fanned & fav'd

[dandan1]

03:38 PM on 07/15/2010

I will be VERY VERY surprised if this latest scheme works. James Cameron consulted with these guys and he called them a bunch of morons. You may say that Cameron is just a Hollywood guy but he is very good at executing large projects. This problem requires the best and brightest and transparency (as opposed to secrecy) and it appears that neither of these elements are present.

[billbb]

06:14 PM on 07/15/2010

BP must've been embarrassed that their sham was discovered: they had no workable plan, and have been casting around for whatever would work.

This appears to have worked, but you have to wonder, since it was made up of commercially avaialable components, why it wasn't required to have this stuck in the hold of a ship in Biloxi, ready for instant deployment.

[viko]

03:30 PM on 07/15/2010

Why all of a sudden people are so adamant about stopping the flow. I say keep it going and don't create a back pressure just suck it up. The other back up wells . What are they for
. We used yo call them relief wells . Now we call them well 2 and well 3.
WELL.WELL.WELL. BPBPBP BP BP BP BPBPBP
MORSE CODE EMERGENCY

[theistus]

06:28 AM on 07/17/2010

The point of the testing is to be sure that they can safely unhook the well in the event of a hurricane, like any other operational well.

[viko]

08:18 AM on 07/17/2010

The point is BP could give a damn about the point of testing if it were not for killing eleven men and devastating the Gulf. The explosion exposed them and revealed the total disregard for safety procedure and humanity. They are a bunch of delinquents and the accident was not unavoidable it was not a natural disaster and it was cold calculated cutting costs exploration to the extent of criminal negligence. If your parents tell you to clean your room and make your bed and you do it Your parents get the merit. If you go beyond the call of duty and clean your room and make your bed you get the merit. BP gets no merit here.
BP gets no merit from me the are doing what they should have been doing in the first place acting responsible. There is no freedom without responsibility. These people need regulation and control. A microscope up the ass would be the correct expression. These people knew very well prior to the accident they could not fix a blowout at 5,000 ft .I do not believe for a second this fake process will work in a hurricane the test will be the hurricane. Why do people see it to fitting to talk down to defend BP. Who's payroll are you on.

[ThaGovna]

02:45 PM on 07/15/2010

Ah, Mr. Nye!

His and Nova were two of my favorite shows as a kid.

[blueskybigstar]

02:15 PM on 07/15/2010

Important.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/node/38332

[alyseven]

02:11 PM on 07/15/2010

I appreciate Bill Nye's explanation, but has he or any other scientist discussed the actual amount of oil leaking? I am horrible at math and not a physics wiz or even close, but isn't there a fairly simple formula to figure out exactly how much oil is spewing from the leak based on the circumference or size of the pipe and the psi and volume or whatever etc? I mean, I'm really disgusted with the media's complacent reporting of whatever BP or the government spokesperson has to say about the amount. Some days it's 80 thousand, other days it's 100 thousand, the next week it's estimated at over 1 million per day. Not to mention, every source has a different estimate. Shouldn't it be relatively straight-forward?

[disprovit]

02:20 PM on 07/15/2010

The fault for that rest with BP. They are the only ones who from day one knew exactly how much is the leak. They should have, cause it is their well, they spend millions building it. They knew exactly how much oil , what pressure, what mixture quality. They had a huge platform on the surface with all measurement devices.

It is a 7 inch pipe coming from ocean to a terminal that is designed to measure it to the ounce.

[alyseven]

04:21 PM on 07/15/2010

Yeah, I know that BP knows but they've lied from day one so that's my point. I don't want to hear what they have to say- I want to hear from someone else who doesn't have involvement.

[Telemachus]

06:13 PM on 07/15/2010

Count the d.ead fish and divide by 10.

Oh, wait, that'll put it over a trillion. Too effing bad, they should've told us the truth when they had the chance.

[ReesieKitty]

02:00 PM on 07/15/2010

Why haven't they had Bill Nye on this from the start? At this point I trust him more than anyone else who has been trying to deal with this disaster.

[disprovit]

01:50 PM on 07/15/2010

Something like this may happen?

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-461896

[misterwrightjos]

01:23 PM on 07/15/2010

were are they going to find a water bottle that big?........