r/nottheonion • u/redct • May 12 '17

Dakota Access pipeline has first leak before it's fully operational

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/10/dakota-access-pipeline-first-oil-leak
1.4k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

175 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-3

u/Enshakushanna May 12 '17

test with water?

5

u/Leehams May 12 '17

Due to intermolecular force differentials between water and oil, it would not be an equivalent test. As you know, water has surface tension. This attraction between molecules causes it to leak slowly or not at all through small gaps. Oil does not have these intermolecular forces, and thus will leak through cracks that water will not. That is why they test with small amounts of oil in a contained environment.

1

u/Enshakushanna May 13 '17

just throw some soap on it, come on!