I thought water was non-compressible

Hank S said:
Nope. At livable temperatures, water is compressible by 0.000053%. Even at 150 atmospheres (2200psi), water compresses less than 1%.

For the mathematically addicted, visit here for a decent, clear explanation: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/permot3.html. Compressibility does not become important with large volumes of water at most pressures. That is how the fire dept can pump water out of hoses at very high pressures to reach the upper floors of buildings--they apply pressure to the water and instead of compressing, it moves. Water can be squirted much farther than air, which is very compressible.
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Now imagine a porous rock formation 10,000' underground. Those pores in the rock are filled with oil and water. The rock formation extends for several hundred square miles. As the oil is produced to the surface by one of those evil oil companies, the pressure of the fluids decreases. As a result of the pressure drop the water expands which helps displace the oil.

In some circumstances the compressibility of water is very important.
 
Clark1961 said:
Now imagine a porous rock formation 10,000' underground. Those pores in the rock are filled with oil and water. The rock formation extends for several hundred square miles. As the oil is produced to the surface by one of those evil oil companies, the pressure of the fluids decreases. As a result of the pressure drop the water expands which helps displace the oil.

In some circumstances the compressibility of water is very important.
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In a volumetric reservoir it's actually the associated natural gas in the reservoir that does most of the expanding. In a water drive reservoir the aquifer is so much larger than the hydrocarbon deposit it is water influx that displaces the oil (and associated gas), initially.
 
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Clark1961 said:
Now imagine a porous rock formation 10,000' underground. Those pores in the rock are filled with oil and water. The rock formation extends for several hundred square miles. As the oil is produced to the surface by one of those evil oil companies, the pressure of the fluids decreases. As a result of the pressure drop the water expands which helps displace the oil.

In some circumstances the compressibility of water is very important.
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Fracking amazing!
 
GRG55 said:
In a volumetric reservoir it's actually the associated natural gas in the reservoir that does most of the expanding. In a water drive reservoir the aquifer is so much larger than the hydrocarbon deposit it is water influx that displaces the oil (and associated gas), initially.
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What causes the water influx? Think East Texas for the classic example.
 
jim.nelson said:
No matter how deep you go into the swimming pool on the international space station, you're still at surface pressure.
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GlennAB1 said:
Didn't astronauts show the water forms a sphere in weightlessness? That could be one cool swimming pool.
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Headed off on a tangent, but wouldn't it be rather difficult to get out of said "pool"? Surface tension would tend to have it trying to follow you around, as you tried to get out at the edge of the water. You'd probably need some way to blow the water away to the other side of the containment to exit the "bubble" when you were done "swimming" in it.

Would make for an interesting bathtub. Would suck as it got cold though, hard to mix the new/hot water around in the bubble... And I wouldn't want to have to clean the fish tank.
 
Never understood these kinds of questions on an aviation forum. A few minutes with google will answer this question a lot better than anyone here.
 
bikert said:
Never understood these kinds of questions on an aviation forum. A few minutes with google will answer this question a lot better than anyone here.
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You should post lmgtfy.com links on every thread. Everyone will love it. LOL!
 
Jaybird180 said:
I should then be able to take a clear unsealed container to the bottom of the ocean, seal the container on the ocean floor and watch it breach as the container ascends.
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If you're talking about water, it would have to be a pretty weak container. For each atmosphere you go up in pressure, water compresses only 46 parts per million. At the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean (Marianus trench at 12,000') you're only compressing the water 1.4%.

Now put a little air in the container and you've got an issue. You're going to have over 5000 PSI in there.
 
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bikert said:
Never understood these kinds of questions on an aviation forum. A few minutes with google will answer this question a lot better than anyone here.
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Maybe, maybe not...
 
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