(July 22, 2024 at 12:20 pm)zebo-the-fat Wrote: Oxygen discovery defies knowledge of the deep ocean
Scientists have discovered “dark oxygen” being produced in the deep ocean, apparently by lumps of metal on the seafloor.
About half the oxygen we breathe comes from the ocean. But, before this discovery, it was understood that it was made by marine plants photosynthesising - something that requires sunlight.
Here, at depths of 5km, where no sunlight can penetrate, the oxygen appears to be produced by naturally occurring metallic “nodules” which split seawater - H2O - into hydrogen and oxygen.
Several mining companies have plans to collect these nodules, which marine scientists fear could disrupt the newly discovered process - and damage any marine life that depends on the oxygen they make.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c728ven2v9eo
There's something wrong with that. Actually, there's a lot wrong with that.
Polymetallic seafloor nodules don't hold significant chemical energy. There's simply no way for them to act as a battery without adding some external component. You could get lots of energy if you reacted them with an acid, but leave them in the seawater from which they formed and they're just going to look silly.
These nodules take millions of years to form and the electrolysis of water takes a lot of energy. If they were electrolysing water their batteries should be drained long ago.
I wish I could find a copy of the research that they cite because this smacks of bad pop science reporting that should be tarred and feathered.
