How come in WWII we can invent nuke bomb, but now we cant figure out how to produce oil in less than 10 years?

Question

How come in WWII we can invent nuke bomb, but now we cant figure out how to produce oil in less than 10 years?

Answer 1

Correction, we invented "atomic weapons", nuclear ones came out during the Cold War

Answer 2

The simple fact is that with the easy areas which could get back into production faster being blocked by politicians the time frame you are talking about is the Alaskan reserves.  The problem and the ten years is getting the oil from the wells, they can be done fairly quickly, to a place to be shipped out.  This means a very long pipeline and the enviromentalist throwing every possible legal challenge at it that must be researched and fought in court while delaying construction.  Producing the oil is not the main time constraint it is the logistics of getting it from there to the refineries.  Opening "old" wells which wee closed is a better option or wells in areas with the infrastructure already there but those are the off-shore areas that have been closed and basically taken off the table because of politics.  Nuclear energy is a viable option but that has been strangled by scare tactics by goups opposed to it, wind energy is now being attacked because birds fly into the blades and they are noisy and solar is being questioned because of the massive size of land that needs to be covered to produce it efficiently, hydro-electric has also be fought by the enviromental extremeist.  I really think many in the "green" movement desire a return to the good old days of horse and buggy but don't realize that is not an option as long as they want their cell phones, hospitals, and luxories.l  

Answer 3

The will to produce and achieve is just not there anymore. The war was a cause that everyone could sink there teeth into. It was kill or be killed. The fuel crisis today is just as bad in a way. If something isn't done soon our economy will collapse and so will our way of life, like in the Great Depression of the 1930's. Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo could not even do to us what we have done to ourselves in the past and apparently are fixin' to do again.

Answer 4

Well, if they had been allowed to drill 15 years ago, this wouldn't be an issue now, would it. BTW, what does a nuclear bomb have to do with oil.  One was an invention, the other is a natural thing in the ground.

Answer 5

Actually we did.

Ethanol and Methanol fuels were used during the war both both sides. Do to rationing of fuel, automakers and and fuel companies experimented with all kinds of fuels.

The n***s had very little oil, their main source was the oil fields at Ploesti, Romania and what they captured from the USSR. Stalingrad was all about oil in fact. The n***s perfected the technique of coal to oil conversion and this became their main source of fuel, especially after the US bombing of Ploesti.

The n***s had huge fuel storage facilities carved inside of mountains (much like our Strategic Petroleum Reserve), the largest of which was Nordhausen, in the Hartz Mountains. Nordhausen was later turned into a v2 rocket plant and concentration camp.

The answer is this: Oil is still the most effiecient and affordable way to power machinery and vehicles. As of today, nuclear power cannot be used in vehicles.

Nuclear power is really just a form of steam power, using radiation to boil water and the steam to move turbines. Nuclear power equipment is too large for vehicles, the smallest reactors are found in space vehicle reactors and naval submarine reactors. Maybe a train could be nuclear powered, but people may feel that is too risky.

Ethanol and Methanol (Wood Alcohol) are okay but not as affordable (yet) as petroleum. Alcohol burns hotter and faster then petroleum and therefore mileage is more limited and engine wear can be greater. The main drawback is that we can't make enough, there are not enough stations, and food production suffers-in quantity and cost.

Hydrogen fuel and electric power cells require more petroleum energy (in electrical power plant form) than they produce, so it will save no gas.

So for now we try to make more oil. Here's some ways we have tried:

Plowshare Program: This was a program conducted by the DOE using nuclear underground detonations. Basically they found oil and natural gas and tried to use nuclear devices to extract difficult to reach gas or oil. They also used the project for mining, making canals, excavation etc. The project was not successful.

Artificial Genesis: Oil takes millions of years to create and there have been successful experiments in speeding that process up. Oil is really just prehistoric algae and plankton mixed with mud, deprived of oxygen and subjected to tremendous heat and pressure. Synthetic creation can be used for making real diamonds as well. This process needs perfecting before oil can be mass produced. This process also requires energy to create energy.

Coal Conversion: Yes we have the n**i technology.

Rubber: Synthetic rubber can be converted to oil by leaching.

Then there are oils completely created chemically (synthetic oils), there are several types of these and they are used mostly as motor oil. Fuel oil can be produced in the same way but it is very expensive.

Offshore Oil: Oil comes from the sea, in fact, oil found on land comes from areas that were ocean first. Offshore drilling is a hot topic right now. It can be done safely, as demonstrated by the North Sea Fields and the aftermath of Katrina in the Gulf, however, not everyone is convinced and it is an eyesore.

There are also some alternative fuels with potential:

Kudzu based ethanol: not a food plant and grows 25 feet a year!

Switchgrass based ethanol: grows fast, hardy and not a food stock.

Biomass: made from garbage.

None of the synthetic and artificially-created petrol products reduce emissions, which may or may not be harmful (The science is crappy on both sides).

We need nuclear power for electricity generation and that way fuels can be made without having to burn other fuels.

This is all just my opinion.

Answer 6

dont worry about oil.  the powers that be have been snuffing out alternative power since the 30's.  the technology is here and effective but the companies are buying the inventor's off and burying the inventions.  good ol capitalism,  gotta love it

Answer 7

they dont need to figure it out... They already know! Not only that but someone has invented a carburator for engines that can get 200 MPG No kidding, google it. Why hasnt this guy gotten a contract and started manufacturing? Because our Gov, Iraqs Gov and all of the very invested in our futures oil companies have way to much to loose. If we no longer needed gas at the rate that we need it now, well they may just be living like regular people instead of profiting 11.9 Billion dollars in the first quarter of 2008.

Answer 8

Because atomic energy is unlimited, whereas fossil fuels are becoming more scarce everyday.  We have the knowledge that cold fusion is in existence but we yet to unfold its mystery.

NOTE: Your question is very miltary-related.

Answer 9

More oil is not the answer.

It is a proven fact that if Greenpeace and other such invironuts would let go, we could all have an atomic pack that would last us for our lifetimes and many more lifetimes too, about 30,000 years!

We could transfer it from our car to our house in a few short seconds and power the house with it too.

Answer 10

The Manhattan Project had the political will and 20 billion dollars behind, with approx. 200,000 scientists, technicians and engineers behind it.  Producing oil could be immediate also, but it lacks the political will, money and national focus, as the Manhattan Project had.

Answer 11

Actually, if it were not for the ENVIRONMENTAL impact statements, permits, government inspections and other bureaucratic uber-manure, we could have oil pumping in FAR less time.

I heard a broad statement last night on a national talk radio show that said less than 180 days if only the government would get the heck out of the way. I'd be happy with 2 years.

One problem, Mr LOL Obama --  refining capacity needs to be VASTLY increased no matter the source of oil.  Can we work on that, too?

No matter if we increase domestic production, we still need to increase alternative sources like hydrogen, bio-blended fuels and such.

FYI:  The USAF has been testing BIO-blended fuels in B-52s and C-17s for a while now (50-50 blend of JP-8 and Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuel). The B-52 Stratofortress has been certified since last Sept (07) but the availability of the blend is still not up to the demand of the largest SINGLE user of fuel in the US: DoD.