Watch: How you can calm an entire lake with a tablespoon of olive oil

In an astounding video from a lecturer from Harvard, he shows how it's possible to calm rough water on a lake using just a tablespoon of olive oil.

According to Dr Greg Keston, in his video from the channel 'What The Physics' water calms because of how the oil spreads itself out on the lake.

He explains how the oil almost acts as a piece of carpet once it has spread itself out on the lake in its one molecule thick form.

"Instead of gripping the water, the wind drags the oil over the lake, and in doing so, doesn't create any ripples at all.

Apparently, US president Benjamin Franklin used to prank people by carrying around oil in his cane and claiming that he was magic and could calm water.

We can't endorse putting oil in lakes as we can't imagine it'll be good for them, but this would be a cool experiment to try at some point.