WEBVTT - What Is Fracking?

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<v Speaker 1>Hi. I am Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry.

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<v Speaker 1>We are the co hosts of the Stuff You Missed

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<v Speaker 1>in History Class podcast from how Stuff Works dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>And as you might suspect from the name, what we

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<v Speaker 1>like to talk about are the things that are of

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<v Speaker 1>historical significance but maybe you didn't hear about in your

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<v Speaker 1>standard history class. So sometimes they are famous figures and

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<v Speaker 1>we're talking about the lesser known parts of their lives.

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<v Speaker 1>Sometimes they are people in groups and places that are

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<v Speaker 1>often overlooked in history class. Lots of cool stuff, So

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<v Speaker 1>come and join us. Welcome to brain Stuff from how

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Works. Hey, brain stuff, this is Christian Seger fracking.

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<v Speaker 1>You've heard of it, you know it's controversial, but you

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<v Speaker 1>might not know what it actually involves. Never fear. Here

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<v Speaker 1>at brain Stuff, we're going to put some fracking knowledge

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<v Speaker 1>in your brain. Fracking is the delightfully cheeky sounding nickname

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<v Speaker 1>for hydraulic fracturing, which sounds a little bit less delightful

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<v Speaker 1>and less cheeky and more like something you would do

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<v Speaker 1>to your enemies. And I don't know StarCraft, but no,

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<v Speaker 1>it is something we do to rocks in the simplest terms.

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<v Speaker 1>Hydraulic fracturing is a way of getting more of the

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<v Speaker 1>valuable fluids like oil and natural gas out of geologic

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<v Speaker 1>formations under the ground. Deep under Earth's surface, there are

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<v Speaker 1>deposits of rock that have huge reserves of oil and

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<v Speaker 1>natural gas within them. But these fossil fuels aren't like

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<v Speaker 1>big lakes where you can just stick a straw in

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<v Speaker 1>and suck it. Is not a milkshake. No, these reserves

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<v Speaker 1>of oil and natural gas are found locked up in

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<v Speaker 1>pores distributed throughout vast layers of rock like shale. So

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<v Speaker 1>how do you get them out at a reasonable pace? Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>different processes are used, but let's look at the typical

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<v Speaker 1>fracking set up for something like shale gas. You start

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<v Speaker 1>with a deep vertical well, drilling a hole down to

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<v Speaker 1>the level of the shale that you want to mind.

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<v Speaker 1>The depth will vary, but just for example, one company

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<v Speaker 1>claims it's average fracking well depth is seven thousand, seven

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<v Speaker 1>hundred feet. That's deep almost one and a half miles

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<v Speaker 1>or about two point three kilometers. When you're at the

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<v Speaker 1>right depth, you take a nine degree turn and you

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<v Speaker 1>continue to drill horizontally parallel to the target rock layer.

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<v Speaker 1>This horizontal section of the well can also travel thousands

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<v Speaker 1>of feet. Now here's where the fracturing comes in. First,

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<v Speaker 1>you open up holes in the horizontal section of the pipe.

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<v Speaker 1>Then you vigorously push a liquid cocktail known as fracking

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<v Speaker 1>fluid down into the borehole under high pressure. This fracking

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<v Speaker 1>fluid is usually a mixture of water, some chemical additives

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<v Speaker 1>like acids to help dissolve the rock, and gels to

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<v Speaker 1>thicken the fluid, and finally solid particles called profits. And

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<v Speaker 1>we're going to get to those profitts in a second.

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<v Speaker 1>When the mixture reaches the horizontal section of the pipe,

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<v Speaker 1>it bleeds out through those holes into the surrounding rock,

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<v Speaker 1>and the extremely high pressure causes the rock to form

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<v Speaker 1>tons of little fractures or cracks. Through these cracks, the

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<v Speaker 1>reserves of fossil fuels contained in the rock can escape

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<v Speaker 1>into the well to be pumped back up to the surface.

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<v Speaker 1>What once was entombed in ancient rock is now the

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<v Speaker 1>way to powering your car or heating the water for

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<v Speaker 1>your next shower. And those propins I mentioned, which are

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<v Speaker 1>often just grains of sand, they help prop the cracks

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<v Speaker 1>in the rock open, so the Earth's precious bodily fluids

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<v Speaker 1>continue to escape into the well without the miners applying

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<v Speaker 1>continuous pressure, So that's how it works. But then there's

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<v Speaker 1>the entirely separate question of whether fracking is a good idea.

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<v Speaker 1>It's mega controversial in many parts of the world. Some

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<v Speaker 1>people claim it consumes too much fresh water, and they

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<v Speaker 1>worry about what will be done with the fracking fluid

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<v Speaker 1>after it's been used, and some opponents wonder if it

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<v Speaker 1>will create earthquakes or cause chemical contaminants to leak into

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<v Speaker 1>our groundwater. Check out the brain stuff channel on YouTube,

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<v Speaker 1>and for more on this and thousands of other topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit how stuff works dot com.