Is it true that if you add a few drops of a chemical into the sea,

[brainshrub]

the whole ocean changes it's composition?

I'm writing a paper and I'd like to find this scientific tidbit. What is it called?

[GoBlue]

1. are you thinking of the Butterfly Effect ?

[brainshrub]

2. No. I know what you are referring to 'tho.

I think I heard somewhere that if you put a few drops of a chemical into the ocean, it changes the whole oceans makeup almost instantly.

It blew my mind when I heard it, and I'll like to reference it...but despite intensive Googling I don't find the factoid.

[Liberal Veteran]

5. probably because it's not quite true.

A few drops of a chemical in the ocean would not likely have a dispersion factor to do anything in a few seconds to the entire ocean and it's highly likely that the ocean will change the chemical composition of the drops.

[Liberal Veteran]

3. I think that's chaos theory.

Not sure it's the same thing.

[whistle]

4. Dissemination, I think...but a few drops of a liquid chemical...

...although it may be extremely potent, would be composed primarily of the liquid agent which is in many cases water. So disseminating that into a body of sea water may affect only a limited range before the toxic chemical that was diluted in the original drops of liquid would be so far separated as to render it relatively harmless to most living matter in the ocean.

Now, taking a highly toxic chemical in its concentrated form, such as dioxin or plutonium and plunging say a kilogram or two of that into the sea would be an ecological disaster, because the molecules of the toxic substance would be much higher in mass and would disseminate over a much broader range of sea water, perhaps even throughout the entire oceans over time. That unfortunately is happening at this very moment with no monitoring, no accountability, no trace of the source(s).

We are all being slowly poisoned by our own folly and the list of these harmful and dangerous substances is endless. Dig deep for your information on this, it is so very important that the world be made aware before it is too late.

<Edit insert>
Here was something I found that may provide additional leads for you to look for an answer to your question:

<snip>

TESTIMONY OF SCOTT B. GUDES
ACTING UNDER SECRETARY FOR OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANS, ATMOSPHERE, AND FISHERIES
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
U.S. SENATE
OCTOBER 11, 2001

<snip>

These capabilities are also suitable for dealing with chemical and biological threats. An urban monitoring system, including sensors to detect toxins and a high resolution model, could provide real time information to predict and track dispersion of chemical or
biological agents. A meteorological monitoring network for the Washington, D.C. area could be set up on a 24/7 basis within six months.

<more>

<link> http://www.legislative.noaa.gov/Testimony/101101gudes.html

[whistle]

6. Is this what you might be looking for...

...flocculation and surface adsorption?

<snip>

Flocculation (the adhesion of smaller particles to form large particles) and surface adsorption (the adhesion of small particles to larger particles and/or droplets) are important processes in the transport of material in the ocean. Laboratory studies of the behaviour of fine drilling waste particles in seawater suggest that flocculation could result in the rapid transport of this material to the seafloor. This is in contrast to the previous view that these particles settle too slowly to accumulate to levels that can impact benthic organisms. While dissolved contaminants are expected to rapidly dilute with seawater to harmless levels, potential toxic metals in produced water were observed to transform from dissolved to particulate forms that settled rapidly. Studies also showed that buoyant oil droplets in produced water could sequester particles on their surface. These studies demonstrate the importance of aggregation processes that mediate the rapid transport of contaminants to both the surface microlayer and the seabed. New sampling methods have been developed at BIO to study waste dispersion around drilling platforms. Application of these technologies has revealed that elevated concentrations of drilling wastes occasionally exist on and above the seafloor around drilling platforms. However, elevated concentrations appear to be transient (days to months) as the wastes are eventually dispersed by currents and waves.

<link> http://www.offshore-environment.com/oilbedford.html

Interesting read. Is seems that toxic chemicals disperse rapidly and braodly on primarily the ocean surface and the sea floor. The sea water in between contains relatively very little of the polutants, yet that is where most of the sampling by EPA takes place. However, marine life that form the bottom of the food chain generally feed on the surface of the ocean or at the bottom on the ocean floor where much of the toxic chemicals are concentrated. Then the big fish eat the polluted little fish and that is how marine life is poisoned, but our scientists hired by the pollutors can find nothing to explain the poisoning because they search for evidence in the wrong places. :shrug:

[idiosyncratic]

7. You aren't thinking of Ice 9 are you?

Kurt Vonnegut wrote about that in Cat's Cradle -- forty-year-old book, but worth reading.

[brainshrub]

8. Can you describe what he was talking about?

I'll pick up a copy of the book if it's what I need. What is Ice 9?

[Richard D]

9. Trust me

Pick it up and read it. Really good book.

[idiosyncratic]

10. Google is your friend ;-) . . . NYT Book Review

Cats Cradle at Amazon.com

Cat's Cradle, one of Vonnegut's most entertaining novels, is filled with scientists and G-men and even ordinary folks caught up in the game. These assorted characters chase each other around in search of the world's most important and dangerous substance, a new form of ice that freezes at room temperature. At one time, this novel could probably be found on the bookshelf of every college kid in America; it's still a fabulous read and a great place to start if you're young enough to have missed the first Vonnegut craze.


NY Times Book Review

. . . We further learn that on the night of his death, years later, he was again ''playing around'' -- in the kitchen this time, with some water and bits of ice. With his characteristically pure-science approach (''Why doesn't someone do something about mud?'' the Marine Corps general had asked him) he has isolated crystals of ice in such a way that water can now be caused to freeze at a relatively high temperature. ''Ice-9''it is called. The family dog laps at a bowl of water which has been touched with a piece of Ice-9 and is promptly frozen stiff. The Hoenikker children carefully divide this last gift to mankind from Dr. Hoenikker.

Following the doctor's death, the story devotes itself to what happens to the three children and to Ice-9. Frank, the eldest, has become the right-hand man of Manzano, the President of a Caribbean island. The daughter and the younger brother visit the island to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of Frank to the regional sex-goddess; we soon learn that he has bought his position of power with a piece of Ice-9 --which President Manzano then uses to commit suicide, thereupon naming Frank his successor.

Frank declines the responsibility and offers the post to the narrator. As the two of them try discreetly to dispose of the President's frozen corpse, the narrator realizes how extensive the spread and acquisition of Ice-9 has become. The younger brother, Newt, a midget, has exchanged his share for a few mad nights with a Russian circus performer, also a midget. The unmarriageable daughter, a six-foot bean-poler, has used hers to buy a handsome physicist. Finally events reach their inevitable conclusion -- the freezing of all the earth's waters, and life itself.

Cat's Cradle is an irreverent and often highly entertaining fantasy concerning the playful irresponsibility of nuclear scientists. Like the best of contemporary satire, it is work of a far more engaging and meaningful order than the melodramatic tripe which most critics seem to consider ''serious.''

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Probably not

Consider that the salt concentration varies around the world's seas, even though they are connected. So, even for a highly soluble substance, the presence in one part does not automatically affect it in another - things like currents and temperature gradients can make a difference.

[oneighty]

12. But a pebble

dropped into the ocean will raise the oceans levels?

Archimedes tells me it is so.

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