PSM V43 D519 Heaped oil creates increased surface tension to prevent wave formation

Storm oil is described as nearly water-insoluble oil acting as a

surfactant Surfactants are chemical compounds that decrease the surface tension or interfacial tension between two liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid. The word ''surfactant'' is a Blend word, blend of "surface-active agent", coined in ...

, and has been used since ancient times to smooth ocean waves. It has been historically employed to facilitate sea rescues and improve navigational safety, involving pouring the oil onto the ocean surface to reduce wave intensity. The nearly immiscible spilled oil acts as a surfactant, accumulating on the surface, and as waves locally stretch or compress, it leads to a concentration gradient inducing tangential shear forces leading to extra dissipation and damping. The phenomena were later discovered and scientifically explored by figures such as

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

Lord Rayleigh John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh ( ; 12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919), was an English physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1904 "for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery ...

, and Agnes Pockels, collectively deepening the scientific knowledge of surface tension and wave dynamics.

Description

Steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

s and lifeboats from many countries were required to carry them until the end of the 20th century. The

United States Maritime Service The United States Maritime Service (USMS) was established in 1938 under the provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 as voluntary training organization to train individuals to become officers and crewmembers on merchant ships that form the ...

Training Manual included storm oil in the list of general equipment aboard lifeboats, while the

Merchant Shipping Act 1894 The Merchant Shipping Act 1894 ( 57 & 58 Vict. c. 60) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated enactments relating to merchant shipping in the United Kingdom. Background In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliamen ...

( 57 & 58 Vict. c. 60) mandated them for British vessels until 1998. Frequently

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of edible plants. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed ...

fish oil Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oils contain the omega−3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), precursors of certain eicosanoids that are known to reduce inflammation in the bod ...

was used as a cheap form of oil. Oil has a damping effect on water and quickly forms a thin layer over a large expanse of the surface, which absorbs some of the energy of the waves. This prevents wind from getting traction along the water; thus, waves cannot form as easily.

History

The practice can be traced back as far as 350 BC with

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

and to the early 1st century with

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

. Aristotle described the use of oil as spreading on the eyes of divers with the intention to "quiet the surface and permit the rays of light to reach them".

Whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

vessels are purported to have dangled blubber around the hull when in heavy seas to help calm the ocean.

famously investigated oil's calming properties on waves during his visits to England in 1757 to negotiate on taxation issues, demonstrating the effect on lakes such as

Derwentwater Derwentwater, or Derwent Water, is a lake in the Lake District in North West England, immediately south of Keswick, Cumbria, Keswick. It is in the unitary authority of Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland within the ceremonial county of ...

. Communications between Franklin and William Brownrigg show that Franklin had first encountered the phenomenon aboard a ship in 1757 and investigated it several years later alongside Brownrigg and Sir John Pringle. This led to the discussion of the topic at the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

on 2 June 1774. Franklin was also the first one to do a controlled experiment on various ponds and lakes in England and the first to publish the findings as a scientific publication. Subsequent investigators included Strutt,

. In parallel, Agnes Pockels, working from her kitchen in Brunswick, Germany, experimented with the properties of oil monolayers on water, measuring the thickness of oil layers on water at approximately 1.3 nanometers. Her work studying storm oils through her surface film balance technique later influenced the design of tools like the Langmuir trough. Pockels also suggested that the calming effect of oil on water involved more than just reduced surface tension, including additional viscous resistance.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news , url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/12/14/106090152.pdf , title=Waves Subdued By Oil , work=New York Times , date=14 December 1892 , accessdate=24 September 2013 {{cite web , url=http://www.usmm.org/lifeboat2.html , title=Lifeboats, Lifeboat Equipment and Rafts , publisher=www.USMM.org , accessdate=24 September 2013 {{cite web , url=https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/17688.html , title=bag, oil , publisher=National Maritime Museum , accessdate=26 January 2018 {{cite web , url=https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/some-situations-ships-dump-oil-purpose.html , title=In Some Situations, Ships Dump Oil on Purpose , publisher= Office of Response and Restoration , accessdate=26 January 2018 {{cite web , url=https://www.deepseanews.com/2010/06/pouring-oil-on-troubled-waters/ , title=Pouring Oil on 'Troubled Waters' , publisher=Deep Sea News , date=23 June 2010 , accessdate=26 January 2018 {{Cite journal, author=Peter Behroozi , title=The calming effect of oil on water , journal=American Journal of Physics , volume=75 , issue=5 , pages=407–414 , date=May 2007 , doi=10.1119/1.2710482 , bibcode=2007AmJPh..75..407B {{Cite journal, author=Joost Mertens , title=Oil on troubled waters: Benjamin Franklin and the honor of Dutch Seamen , url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.2180175 , journal=Physics Today , volume=59 , issue=1 , pages=36–41 , date=January 2006 , doi=10.1063/1.2180175 , bibcode=2006PhT....59a..36M , url-access=subscription {{cite web , author=Rob Waugh , url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/watch-as-a-tablespoonful-of-olive-oil-calms-the-waves-on-a-whole-lake-121653278.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw , title=Watch as a tablespoonful of olive oil calms the waves on a whole lake , publisher=Yahoo! , date=15 December 2016 , accessdate=28 January 2018 {{cite web , url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/watch-as-a-tablespoonful-of-olive-oil-calms-the-waves-on-a-whole-lake-121653278.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw , title=From Benjamin Franklin to William Brownrigg, 7 November 1773 , date=15 December 2016 , publisher=Founders Online , accessdate=28 January 2018 History of navigation Maritime history Oils