• Question: Are you working on other frozen substances too?

    Asked by to Ben on 17 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ben Butler

      Ben Butler answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Just seawater at the moment! Are there any other frozen substances you can think of that might be interesting to research?

Comments

  • fabtastic05 commented on :

    This may sound silly but what about the microscopic organisms/creatures living in the frozen seawater or unfrozen seawater? Also, thank you for answering all my questions, i’ve learned a lot. 🙂

  • rainbow33 commented on :

    What about freezing fossil fuels such as oil? Would this mean we were able to keep them for longer?

  • Photo: Ben

    Ben commented on :

    Hi fabtastic05,

    Great comment! You’re quite right there are loads of microscopic organisms that live in sea ice and in seawater. These are really interesting because they can survive in some of the most extreme conditions on Earth! I would fancy living in sea ice at -20 degrees C!

  • Photo: Ben

    Ben commented on :

    Hi @rainbow33

    Brilliant comment! There is actually a really exciting type of fuel called ‘methane hydrates’ which is basically frozen gas! These methane hydrates are found at the bottom of our ocean, where the high pressure and cold temperature turn the methane into a strange solid.

    There are loads of scientists that are trying to work out ways of extracting these hydrates, so if it’s something that might interest you then it is definitely something to look into!