Burning Ice

Posted By Guest on March 11, 2010

Burning Ice

When methane and freezing cold water fuse under tremendous pressure, they create a substance as paradoxical as it coveted: burning ice. Earlier this year, a report from the National Research Council identified the combustible water, also known as methane hydrate, as a potential source of natural gas.

There's 85.4 trillion cubic feet of methane hydrate buried under Alaska. That's equivalent to 3 billion tons of oil, or enough to heat 100 million American homes for a decade.

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