How is there fire in the water with relation to the gas leak in the Gulf of Mexico?

Question

How is there fire in the water with relation to the gas leak in the Gulf of Mexico?

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

Obviously the ocean isn’t on fire. Water doesn’t burn. What happened is an oil pipeline burst underwater and oil is less dense than water so it floats. That oil then can burn while floating on the surface of the water.

Now yes, there is plenty of water around the fire. Water puts out fire by reducing the temperature below that required for ignition and by smothering its access to oxygen. Water doesn’t put out fire by just being nearby. So for oil floating on water it can burn because it has access to oxygen, and only the surface layer is burning while the oil under it acts as insulation to keep the surface layer hot enough to keep burning.