Life on an Oil Rig

Have you ever imagined how life is in the middle of the sea? Do you ever wonder what they do? If you happen to be passing by a beach, can you see an oil rig or platform in the middle of the sea? What is an oil rig? Does anyone live there? Who are they? How do they travel to the oil rig? By boat or by swimming?

An oil rig or oil platform is a large structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store products until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing. For PETRONAS, there are two types of platforms. One is a compliant tower of platform which the tower foundation is piled on the sea bed. The other one is the semi-submersible platform. The jackets of this type of platform are hollow that gives it sufficient buoyancy to cause the structure to float. Semi-submersible platforms can be moved from place to place.

There are almost 100 people working on an oil rig. They work on a 12-hour shift basis for each position. They have no social life because their life on an oil rig is all about 'work'. On some rigs, mobile phones are not allowed for safety reasons. That is why whoever works offshore is usually scheduled to work 14 days non-stop and when they return to land they will have 14 days of leave. Mobile phones need to be kept in special lockers which is a service provided at airports. They travel by helicopter to and from an oil rig.

The Offshore Installation Manager (OIM) is the manager of an oil platform. He is the one who controls and manages the operation of an oil rig. He is also responsible to maximize production of crude oil. Besides that, he must ensure safety, quality and environment systems fully comply with corporate standards, HSE policies including managing emergency and incident response and lead the Emergency Response Team in any emergency evacuation.

The engineering team consists of drilling engineers, mud engineers and reservoir engineers. They are all in charge to determine and carry out the drilling jobs. During the planning phase, geologists and mud loggers will take samples of drilling mud in order to classify the rock type and the formation that is being drilled. It is helpful to know the formation type and in testing the samples for any oil or gas presence.

The toolpusher is responsible for all operations in the drilling rig and deliver the orders from the engineers to the drillers. Toolpushers who work at night are called 'nightpushers'. The toolpusher is directly in charge and responsible for the rig crew which includes the floorman, driller and derrickman. Basically, the driller operates the drilling equipment and keeps an accurate record of everything that happens in making the hole.

The derrickman works from the monkeyboard, 30 meters up the derrick. His job there is to connect or disconnect the hoisting equipment to the drill pipe. Floormen, roughnecks and roustabouts work on the drilling floor alongside the well; moving pipes and screwing them together. They handle the low end of each new section of casing or drill pipe as it is lowered into the hole - or raised out when the drill bit needs to be changed.

Even though they live far from everything, if minor injuries and sickness happen, the medic is the first line of defense in an emergency. The medic, usually treating cuts, bruises, broken bones and colds. Seriously ill or injured crew members are airlifted to the nearest hospital. Good food is one of the few real comforts for workers who are on the platform for weeks at a time. The three cooks aboard the platform to prepare four meals a day for 40-100 people. Fresh produce comes in by boat.

There is a person also specialized in dealing with fire emergency cases in the platform. A firefighter must be aware of the way to turn fire off and to rescue people from fire. An Emergency Response Team is a group of skilled personnel who is chosen among the rig crew to deal with emergency cases and emergency response which includes evacuation, gathering and rescue of rig members. The emergency response team must be skilled in terms of safety procedures during blow out, fire or any hazardous actions. All rig crews must have the Basic Offshore Emergency Training(BOSET) and Helicopter Underwater Emergency Training(HUET) certificates.

Well, if you really want to know about life on an oil rig it's best to actually experience it. Or maybe the next best thing is to hear from someone who works offshore!

Posted by Ayu
Learning Specialist, Petrosains

Sains & Batik

Batik adalah teknik pewarnaan pada fabrik melalui proses 'rintang warna’ dengan menggunakan lilin dan damar sebagai perintang warnanya. Istilah 'rintang warna' bermaksud bahagian pada motif atau corak yang menghalang warna daripada diwarnai oleh pewarna. Bahagian tersebut akan kelihatan kekal putih setelah proses penghasilan batik siap sepenuhnya. Lihat gambar di bawah. Garisan-garisan putih merupakan bahagian yang telah di'rintang warna'.  

Motif Batik

'Rintang warna' lebih mudah dihuraikan sebagai bahagian yang terhalang daripada diwarnakan pada fabrik untuk menghasilkan batik. Apakah kaitannya pula dengan sains?

Corak pada tekstil dilukis bukan dengan pen atau pensil tetapi menggunakan sejenis alat yang menyerupai bentuk pen yang di panggil canting.  Ia terdiri dari bekas bermuncung seperti paip dan buluh sebagai pemegang. 

Campuran lilin (parafin) dan damar akan dipanaskan sebelum proses mencanting dilakukan. Setelah campuran ini cair, ia akan dicedok menggunakan canting. Bagi memastikan kelancaran campuran lilin dan damar keluar daripada muncung canting semasa proses mencanting, tembaga digunakan untuk membuat canting kerana tembaga merupakan konduktor haba yang baik. Ini amat penting bagi  memastikan campuran lilin dan damar sentiasa berada dalam keadaan cecair dan akan mengalir keluar dengan lancarnya semasa proses mencanting.

Mencanting pada lukisan batik bertujuan menutup bahagian motif atau corak daripada diwarnakan. Secara kimianya, lilin (parafin) adalah nama umum untuk hidrokarbon alkana dengan formula CnH2n+2. Ia berwarna putih, tidak berbau, tidak mempunyai rasa, pepejal, mempunyai takat lebur di antara 47 darjah Celcius sehingga 64 darjah Celcius dan tidak larut dalam air. Dalam keadaan suhu bilik, ia adalah rapuh dan mudah retak.

Damar yang selalu digunakan pula adalah getah yang diperolehi daripada pokok konifer. Damar sangat likat, mempunyai bau dan juga tidak larut dalam air.

Sifat kimia tidak larut dalam air yang dimiliki oleh lilin (parafin) dan damar menyebabkan kedua-dua bahan ini digunakan untuk memisahkan pewarna pada fabrik untuk menghasilkan batik. Sebelum proses pembuatan batik berakhir, fabrik akan dicelup di dalam sejenis larutan kimia untuk membuang lilin yang melekat. Hasilnya, bahagian yang ditutupi dengan lilin akan kelihatan bewarna putih.

Bengkel 'Mewarna Batik Canting' adalah salah satu aktiviti  sempena Petrosains Science Festival yang akan berlangsung  pada 15-21 September 2014. Layari www.sciencefestival.my untuk menyertainya! #petrosainsfest

Posted by Ayu

Learning Specialist, Petrosains

Petrosains Science Festival is Back!!

Petrosains, The Discovery Centre, is bringing back the Petrosains Science Festival for the second time around, from 15 to 21 September 2014.  Aptly themed “Music, Arts and Science”, this year’s festival which is open for families and youth of Malaysia, promises to be bigger, better and more exciting.  

In the quest to help raise awareness on the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education, Petrosains hopes that with this Festival, and the support and participation from Festival partners, it will continue to fulfill its vision of awakening interest and passion in science, spreading wonder in discovery and introducing the pleasures of life-long learning to the general public.  

The inaugural Petrosains Science Festival was organized last year by Petrosains with the theme “Bringing Science Alive”. The Festival received overwhelming response with more than 40,000 visitors attending the six day festival and collaborations with more than 40 partners which consisted of Government agencies, corporations from telecommunications, oil & gas, IT, aviation and entertainment industries. There were performances by more than 40 personalities and celebrities and more than 100 workshops and talks were conducted throughout the festival where visitors thronged to attend the sessions.

This year, Petrosains will showcase Science, Music and Arts and the seamless fusion between these three elements.  Petrosains hopes to receive a bigger pool of visitors, especially as the festival dates coincide with the school holidays.  Already recognized by Tourism Malaysia as one of the anticipated and exciting annual festivals in Malaysia, this Festival will engage children, youth, and adults alike through its educational and scientific activities infused and layered with elements of Arts and Music. 

This year, to expand the reach and to accommodate a bigger audience, the KLCC Esplanade overlooking the dancing fountain will also be decked with Festival activities during the last three days of the Festival besides the weeklong do held at Galleria, Level 4, Petrosains.  This time around visitors can expect a whole lot more of interesting and fun activities, workshops, forums, talks, science shows, health and fitness sessions, celebrity appearances, games and such.  

At the same time, bigger collaborations with festival partners are expected to be forged to offer visitors a whirlwind of discovery and excitement in science. Among the key partners of the Petrosains Science Festival 2014 are PETRONAS, Telekom Malaysia, Technip, Tourism Malaysia, RHB, KRU, Sony Music, Discovery Science Channel, Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), Universiti Institut Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Universiti Malaya and many more.

The science festival concept where science is celebrated in the community has seen huge success in major cities such as Edinburgh, New York, San Diego, Abu Dhabi and Singapore in the past years.  Petrosains hopes to place Kuala Lumpur’s name amongst these other cities in the category of successful science festivals held with the Petrosains Science Festival.

So mark your calendar and join us for this Festival and enjoy the exciting activities on offer. For more information, please log on to www.sciencefestival.my  or email us at info@sciencefestival.my. 

2014 Petrosains Science Festival

Petrosains, The Discovery Centre, is bringing back the Petrosains Science Festival for the second time around, from 15 to 21 September 2014. Aptly themed “Music, Arts and Science”, this year’s festival which is open for families and youth of Malaysia, promises to be bigger, better and more exciting. Check out this video! 

Plan your visit NOW at http://sciencefestival.my/ 

Follow us at www.facebook.com/petrosainsfest for updates!

#petrosains #petrosainsfest 

Fast Growing Plants

We use catalysts to get faster chemical reactions, growth hormones to stimulate growth & cell reproduction and regeneration in humans or animals, and sometimes fertilisers are added to soil to improve its fertility.

How do we get plants to mature in the shortest possible time?

Pineapples for instance take about 2 years to grow before it could be eaten.  What if we could reduce its growth by a few months?  Can it be done?

Yes we can, and the answer is by tissue culture.  Nothing magical or sinister, it’s just science!

So, what is tissue culture anyway?

Basically it’s just growing tissue (or cells) outside an organism, i.e. in a laboratory container under controlled environment conditions.  Single cells, plant cells without cell walls, pieces of leaves, stems or roots are exposed to specific nutrients, hormones and light under sterile conditions to produce several new plants - each a clone of the original mother plant, over a very short period of time.

How is micropropagation carried out?

The offspring all come from a single plant and have identical genetic make-ups to each other and to the mother plant. They are called clones.

What are the advantages of micropropagation over the conventional method of growing plants?

1. It is fast and produces thousands of plantlets within months. 

2. Healthy plant material is ensured since soil and disease-causing organisms are excluded during the propagation cycle. 

3. The method is programmable as it is independent of seasonal changes and the weather. 

4. It saves an enormous amount of care usually required by cuttings and seedlings (watering, weeding, spraying etc.) 

5. Excess material produced can often be stored over long periods. 

6. Species and cultivars can be stored in small spaces.

Tissue culture is not really new technology as it owes its origin to the ideas of the German scientist, Haberlandt, at the beginning of the 20th century. It has now come to a stage that it is imperative we use more of this technology due to pressing environmental concerns. Changing climate, fast expanding world population and scarcity of food in many parts of the world are major concerns and many scientists believe this is one of the many ways to deal with it.  

So folks, we don’t have to wait too long to enjoy our favourite fruits.  It’s NOT MAGIC but it’s worth the short wait!

This article is written in conjunction with the Science Engagement Session at HotScience, Petrosains from 3-4 May 2014 with Nuclear Malaysia led by Dr. Rusli Ibrahim, Puan Norazlina Noordin & their team.

Shared by Azni
Learning Specialist, Petrosains

Why does my child write some letters or numbers backwards?

Be calm. Your child is possibly dyslexic. Try to talk to your doctor if you suspect your child has dyslexia or another learning disability.  They may then refer you to a learning specialist, educational psychologist or speech therapist. The first step is evaluation so that you can take the appropriate steps at school and at home.

Other symptoms of dyslexia are difficult to recognize before a child enters school, but it becomes obvious as a child begins learning to read. However if left undiagnosed or untreated, difficulties faced by the child will continue until adulthood.

Here are difficulties faced by dyslexics:-

1. Memorizing their address, alphabets or multiplication tables.

2. Learning to tie their shoes.

3. Writing some letters or numbers backwards.

4. Learning to tell time on a clock with hands.

5. Telling left from right. 

6. Confusing letter pairs such as b-d, b-p, p-q, or g-j.

7. Saying sounds in the right order in multi-syllable words e.g. animal, spaghetti, hamburger, consonant

8. Handwriting:

          - Letters are not on the line.

          - Odd spacing between words.

          - Tall letters are sometimes written as short ones.

          - Tails don’t always hang below the line.

          - Sentences often don’t start with capital letters.

          - Punctuation is often left out.

9. Memorizing number facts

10. Correctly doing math operations

11. Learning a foreign language

However, most children with dyslexia can learn to read and many can remain in a regular classroom, but they will need help to do so. Usually in the USA, learning specialists use a variety of techniques to work with children with dyslexia on an ongoing basis.  

This article is written in conjunction with a science talk held at Petrosains on 23 June 2014 by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ong Puay Hoon, Senior Lecturer and Researcher at Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, UNIMAS.   She also does research on dyslexia and is the project leader of several researches in this area.

Shared by Azni

Learning Specialist, Petrosains

Magic Cards Trick

You can guess correctly the number that someone has in his/her mind through this Magic Cards Trick. Wouldn't that be cool? Let's try it! You will only need seven cards with numbers (within the range of 1 – 99) arranged in a specific way.

Card 1

1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15
17	19	21	23	25	27	29	31
33	35	37	39	41	43	45	47
49	51	53	55	57	59	61	63
65	67	69	71	73	75	77	79
81	83	85	87	89	91	93	95
97	99

                                                      

Card 2

2	3	6	7	10	11	14	15
18	19	22	23	26	27	30	31
34	35	38	39	42	43	46	47
50	51	54	55	58	59	62	63
66	67	70	71	74	75	78	79
82	83	86	87	90	91	94	95
98	99

Card 3

4	5	6	7	12	13	14	15
20	21	22	23	28	29	30	31
36	37	38	39	44	45	46	47
52	53	54	55	60	61	62	63
68	69	70	71	76	77	78	79
84	85	86	87	92	93	94	95

Card 4

8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47
56	57	58	59	60	61	62	63
72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79
88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95

Card 5

16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55
56	57	58	59	60	61	62	63
80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87
88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95

Card 6                       

32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39
40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47
48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55
56	57	58	59	60	61	62	63
96	97	98	99

Card 7

64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71
72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79
80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87
88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95
96	97	98	99

What to do?

1. Get someone to choose a 'secret number' within numbers 1 to 99 and ask him/her to jot it down on a piece of paper and show it to everyone else except you. 
2. Then get the set of magic cards as above (print it beforehand and cut it into cards!). You'll have seven pieces of cards with numbers.  

3. Next, show the cards one by one and ask him/her whether the 'secret number' is in each of the cards or not. 
4. Put aside the cards that have the 'secret number' in it. 
5. Quickly add the first number on the top-left corner of each card that has the 'secret number' in it.
6. The total of those numbers is actually the 'secret number' that he/she chose!

How does it work?

The magic cards trick is based on binary numbers and the numbers for each card is uniquely arranged on each card (refer to the table below). Binary numbers are any numbers represented only with number 1 or 0 or a combination of both.

	Card 1	Card 2	Card 3	Card 4	Card 5	Card 6	Card 7
	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
1	1	0	0	0	.	.	.
2	0	1	0	0	.	.	.
3	1	1	0	0	.	.	.
4	0	0	1	0	.	.	.
5	1	0	1	0	.	.	.
6	0	1	1	0	.	.	.
7	1	1	1	0	.	.	.
8	0	0	0	1	.	.	.
9	1	0	0	1	.	.	.
10	0	1	0	1	.	.	.
11	1	1	0	1	.	.	.
12	0	0	1	1	.	.	.
13	1	0	1	1	.	.	.
14	0	1	1	1	.	.	.
Continue
…… 99	1	1	0	0	0	1	1

Good luck!

Posted by Ayu

Learning Specialist, Petrosains