Can a Little Oil Really Calm the Ocean?

A few published papers about this effect:

[TheActionLab]

What's crazy is that this works so well that scientists were worried about people using it to control the weather in the papers I read about the effect.

[guesy]

I hope this exploit won't get patched in the next update

[aflahaliafi]

Oh my god finally. In my 12th grade physics, one of the practical applications of surface tension was to calm ocean waves. All of us students and the teacher was equally confused, and googling it didn't give answers. Thank you for solving a 6 year long mystery

[dookieshoe]

It's blowing my mind that so little can create that big of an area of effect.

[lukasaudir]

A sinking boat raises the flag "I'M SINKING!"

A passing-by boat raises the flag "NOT MY PROBLEM"

[fun-damentals]

science truly does feel like magic sometimes. if someone wrote this in a fantasy book, where people drop this alchemical substance into the ocean to near-instantly calm the waves, i would say they are being too unrealistic

[jerrylim]

me dumping 5 million tons of crude oil into the ocean: "my Amazon package will never sink now."

[Mossad]

The gulf of Mexico was as calm as a bathtub during the BP oil spill. Nobody talks about it, but I was out there in the golf, and I can tell you there wasn’t a single wave to be found.

[ericwazhung]

2:00 it took quite some time to realize the mirror-finish was NOT the bank of snow, but a near perfect reflection of it!

[Murmelthier]

wtf...it seems so simple, yet in all my years I've never heard of this. Thank you!

[maxhugen]

This used to be well known amongst sailors. Once a sailing yacht starts to get overpowered even with just small storm sails up, a "sea anchor" (like a small parachute) is let out via a line from the bow of the yacht for some distance, and sails taken down. This keeps the bow facing oncoming waves. If waves were breaking, a very small amount of oil could be released via the head (toilet) periodically, which would calm the sea as the yacht drifted downwind with the oil slick, bow on to the now-calmer waves.

[PWFSeattle]

Ben Franklin, letter to William Brownrigg, 1773: "I then went to the Windward Side, where they [the waves] began to form; and there the Oil tho’ not more than a Tea Spoonful produced an instant Calm, over a Space several yards square, which spread amazingly, and extended itself gradually till it reached the Lee Side, making all that Quarter of the Pond, perhaps half an Acre, as smooth as a Looking Glass."

[mitch]

Edit: apparently this comment is spoiling the video before people can watch it, and I apologize for that.

When I read the thumbnail, I totally thought you were pulling our chains, but the fact that this actually works is mind-blowing. This is the best real-world example of the butterfly effect I've ever seen

[noahway]

The Coast Guard just needs to carry a 5 gal bucket of fish oil with them on rescue missions. Easy peasy.

[Skyrunner_]

I have used a small amount of vegetable oil to prevent water from boiling over when cooking pasta for as long as I've been cooking. I think this explains why this trick works.

[carltonleboss]

Wow, I wasn't expecting it to actually work!

[rivernlong]

Also worth noting is that the danger to ships in the sea isn't really the size of a wave, but the wave breaking onto or into the side of a boat. The oil film helps prevent waves from breaking, meaning that while the waves are still tall they aren't as 'pointy', or steep - and thus much less dangerous.

[DesertNavy]

"While at sea in 1757, Franklin took particular interest in a stark difference between the wakes of certain ships compared to others. Franklin consulted his captain and learned that one ship’s cook threw refuse oil over the side of the boat, turning the water tranquil—a phenomenon he had likewise learned about in his youth from the writings of Pliny, the ancient natural historian. It was at sea that Franklin fully contemplated “the wonderful Quietness of Oil on agitated water"

[groundzero]

That's the coolest sh!t i've learned this year

[mikerhinos]

In French we have the expression "une mer d'huile" which we use when the water (ocean, lake etc.) is like a mirror.