You know how oil floats on water (how its less dense so it floats) so, why don't we just light a match? get a flamethrower? it will burn all the oil, and then the fire cant stand on water, so its a perfect idea right? besides the fact that the smoke/ pollution will do something to our air; what are the bad things about this plan? how will it not work (in your case)? and why isn't BP doing anything about it???
(the following message is to BP, tell me if you agree)
ANIMALS ARE DIEING BP, AND ITS ALL YOUR FAULT! HURRY UP AND CLEAN UP THE OIL! WE WANT OUR BEACH BACK!!!!AND THANKS YOU, ALL THE ENDANGERED ANIMALS THAT LIVE/ MIGRATE THERE, WILL BECOME EXTINCT!
Suggestion:
This isn't just motor oil, it's crude oil which is everything from asphalt like bitumen to light products like lighter fluid, not all of it will float and oil will mix with water if agitated enough, it's called emulsification, mayonnaise is a household example of emulsified oil. Also, they pumped a lot of dispersant into the water at the well head so much of the oil is dispersed throughout the water. The only way to clean up the oil now is to let the bacteria eat the oil, the dispersed nature of the oil will facilitate this but it does mean that the bacteria population will bloom and that could lead to the water being deprived of oxygen.
Nature will solve this problem by finding a new balance as the oil gets incorporated into the food web. Unfortunately several species will become extinct because of this but the throngs of do gooders going down to the beaches to shovel oil around may think they're doing good but are as likely to kill the wild life they are trying to protect.
It's much easier to break something than it is to fix something, there'll only be so much clean up possible by man, nature will have to absorb the rest of the impact. Remember the fairy tale about Humpty Dumpty, and what all the King's horses and all the King's men could do.
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