PLASTIC WASTES TO PAVING STONE

 

WHY I DO NOT SEEM TO BE EXCITED ABOUT THE NEW PETROLEUM INDUSTRY LAW

 

Recall that the President signed the Petroleum Industry Bill into law on the August 16, 2021.

I schooled at the Petroleum Training Institute. You know what that mean? We were trained on the engineering, economics, and politics of the petroleum industry. I had the opportunity to interact with the owners and the controllers of the petroleum resources in the different states of the federation. We daily talked about the hopes and the despairs of being from an oil community. The Ogoni struggle, Ken Saro Wiwa, gas flaring, were our everyday gist back then. So I got so interested in the oil enterprise at a very young age.

Also, as at the time the Petroleum Industry Bill was drafted I owned my personal hard copy which I read line by line, page by page. I was by then an intern at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and part of my experience was to understand all existing laws in the Nigerian petroleum industry as well as international charter and conventions. I owned a hard copy of the Petroleum Act 1969 which I studied between lines. The petroleum industry bill, to us that saw the original version, was to be the best thing to happen to the Nigerian oil sector, the host community and the nation at large. It was to be a legal framework that harmonizes all extant laws hitherto operating the sector into one document. Hopes were high. We wished the bill was passed into law the next second.

I seriously wonder if it that bill that is now passed into law and it look like nothing happened.

Maybe Nigerians, like myself, from Niger-Delta have experienced things that were highly anticipated but turned out to be a mere ritual.

To me this law might be like one of those things that just happen for happening sake without any or much impact on the masses. I would point a few examples:

1.    Where is the impact of the 13percent oil derivation on the oil producing states: I remembered how as PTI students then we wished the struggle for 13% came speedily. Kudos to Victor Attah, James Ibori, and Peter Odili, that fought for the actualization of that. But where is the impact on the masses? My state still rank up in unemployment.

2.    Where is the impact of Niger Delta Ministry: The only thing all of us know is the Minister of Niger Delta who by now must have greatly increase his net worth but we don’t seem to be aware of any ministry as such. We thought, if we could just have a separate ministry to oversee the affairs of the oil rich region then that would mean heaven on earth.

3.    Where is the impact of stopping gas flaring: It might interest you to know that the cooking gas (LPG) that is now sold at an exorbitant price is waste gas of the oil sector. We dreamt that if it could only be harnessed we would cook free 24 hours with LPG and enjoy electricity free from Natural gas plant. Gas flaring has ceased, the waste gas is now converted to LPG, LNG, and CNG, but can we afford it as Nigerians. Can we access it?

These and many more do make me skeptical about this new law and I ask, why can’t Nigerians benefit from Nigeria?

 

By Idongesit F. Oduok

Visit: www.odfidtechnicalworld.blogspot.com for interesting updates

volcano: Cause and Benefits

 

Definition

A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging and most are found underwater.

Plate Tectonic and Volcano

According to the theory of plate tectonics, the Earth's lithosphere, its rigid outer shell, is broken into sixteen larger plates and several smaller plates. These are in slow motion, due to convection in the underlying ductile mantle, and most volcanic activity on Earth takes place along plate boundaries, where plates are converging (and lithosphere is being destroyed) or are diverging (and new lithosphere is being created). Stratovolcanoes tend to form at subduction zones, or convergent plate margins, where an oceanic plate slides beneath a continental plate and contributes to the rise of magma to the surface. At rift zones, or divergent margins, shield volcanoes tend to form as two oceanic plates pull slowly apart and magma effuses upward through the gap. Volcanoes are not generally found at strike-slip zones, where two plates slide laterally past each other. “Hot spot” volcanoes may form where plumes of lava rise from deep within the mantle to Earth's crust far from any plate margins.

Mechanism of Volcano

Deep within the Earth it is so hot that some rocks slowly melt and become a thick flowing substance called magma. Since it is lighter than the solid rock around it, magma rises and collects in magma chambers. Eventually, some of the magma pushes through vents and fissures to the Earth's surface. Magma that has erupted is called lava.

Some volcanic eruptions are explosive and others are not. The explosivity of an eruption depends on the composition of the magma. If magma is thin and runny, gases can escape easily from it. When this type of magma erupts, it flows out of the volcano. A good example is the eruptions at Hawaii’s volcanoes. Lava flows rarely kill people because they move slowly enough for people to get out of their way. If magma is thick and sticky, gases cannot escape easily. Pressure builds up until the gases escape violently and explode. A good example is the eruption of Washington’s Mount St. Helens. In this type of eruption, the magma blasts into the air and breaks apart into pieces called tephra. Tephra can range in size from tiny particles of ash to house-size boulders.

Explosive volcanic eruptions can be dangerous and deadly. They can blast out clouds of hot tephra from the side or top of a volcano. These fiery clouds race down mountainsides destroying almost everything in their path. Ash erupted into the sky falls back to Earth like powdery snow. If thick enough, blankets of ash can suffocate plants, animals, and humans. When hot volcanic materials mix with water from streams or melted snow and ice, mudflows form. Mudflows have buried entire communities located near erupting volcanoes.

Benefits of Volcano

Clearly the destructive potential of volcanoes is tremendous. But the risk to people living nearby can be reduced significantly by assessing volcanic hazards, monitoring volcanic activity and forecasting eruptions, and instituting procedures for evacuating populations. In addition, volcanism affects humankind in beneficial ways. Volcanism provides beautiful scenery, fertile soils, valuable mineral deposits, and geothermal energy. Over geologic time, volcanoes recycle Earth’s hydrosphere and atmosphere.

Volcanic ash and weathered basalt produce some of the most fertile soil in the world, rich in nutrients such as iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus.

Tuff formed from volcanic ash is a relatively soft rock, and it has been used for construction since ancient times. The Romans often used tuff, which is abundant in Italy, for construction. The Rapa Nui people used tuff to make most of the moai statues in Easter Island.

Volcanic activity is responsible for emplacing valuable mineral resources, such as metal ores.

Volcanic activity is accompanied by high rates of heat flow from the Earth's interior. These can be tapped as geothermal power.

CHEMISTRY NOTE: UNDERSTANDING CALCULATIONS IN FARADAY’S FIRST LAW OF ELECTROLYSIS

 

By Idongesit F. Oduok

Electrolysis is the use of electric current to stimulate a non-spontaneous chemical reaction. In electrolysis an electric current is passed through an electrolytic solution to stimulate the flow of ions to bring about a chemical change. An electrolyte is a liquid (or generally salt solution of a metal) that conducts electricity. 

Application of Electrolysis

Electrolysis has wide applications in industries. Some of the important applications are as follows:
(i) Production of hydrogen by electrolysis of water.
(ii) Manufacture of heavy water.
(iii) The metals like Na, K, Mg, Al, etc., are obtained by electrolysis of fused electrolytes.
(iv) Non-metals like hydrogen, fluorine, chlorine are obtained by electrolysis.
(v) Compounds like NaOH, KOH, white lead, etc. are synthesised by electrosynthesis method.
(vi) Electroplating: The process of coating an inferior metal with a superior metal by electrolysis is known as electroplating.

Faraday’s First Law of Electrolysis

The mass of the substance (m) deposited or liberated at any electrode is directly proportional to the quantity of electricity or charge (Q) passed.

Let me present a mathematical formula that can handle all of first law of electrolysis:

Class Work

1. Calculate the mass of copper deposited if a current of 0.2 Amps is passed for 2 hours through a copper(II) sulphate solution? (Cu = 63.5; Copper ion is Cu²⁺)

2. In an electrolysis of sodium chloride solution experiment a current of 2 A was passed for 2 minutes. Calculate the volume of chlorine deposited. (Cl = 35.5;  Chlorine ion is Cl^-)

 

Solve, snap and post the answers in the comment space. Post your questions.

MEANING, CAUSE , AND MEASURING SCALE OF EARTHQUAKES

By Idongesit F. Oduok

What is earthquake

Earthquake is defined as any sudden shaking of the ground caused by the passage of seismic waves through Earth’s rocks.

 

What causes earthquake

An earthquake is caused by a sudden slip on a fault. The tectonic plates are always slowly moving, but they get stuck at their edges due to friction. When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, there is an earthquake that releases energy in waves that travel through the earth's crust and cause the shaking that we feel.

 

How is earthquake measured

The Richter scale also called the Richter magnitude scale or Richter's magnitude scale is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 paper, where he called it the "magnitude scale".

 

The scale is graded from 0 – 9. Earthquake measuring 0 – 4 are minor, from 4 – 7 are moderate, and over 7 are severe.

 

Focus of earthquake

The focus is the place inside Earth’s crust where an earthquake originates. The point on the Earth’s surface directly above the focus is the epicenter. When energy is released at the focus, seismic waves travel outward from that point in all directions. There are different types of seismic waves, each one traveling at varying speeds and motions. It's these waves that you feel during an earthquake.

 

Effects of earthquake

1.    Earthquakes cause the death of people and animals in places where they occur.

2.   They also cause the destruction of buildings, roads, bridges, railways and telecommunications.

3.    They also displace parts of the earth’s crust, either vertically or laterally.

4.    They can also raise or lower coastal rocks.

5.    They can raise or lower parts of the ocean floor.

They can cause landslides and open deep cracks in surface rocks.