An Environmentally-Friendly Oil Spill Experiment

An Environmentally-Friendly Oil Spill Experiment

Purpose: Oil spills are one of the worst preventable environmental disasters – the impacts can last for decades and have far-reaching consequences. In this activity, you will explore the difficulties of cleaning up an “oil spill” and how it affects wildlife (birds). /

Materials: Paper towel for your lab area!

4 - 250 mL beakers (glass) / 400 mL of prepared “ocean” water
20 mL of vegetable oil (x 4) / 4 – ½ teaspoon pure cocoa powder
A ½ teaspoon measure / Popsicle sticks
plastic100 mL beaker for mixing;
a Petri dish / Absorbent materials (toilet paper, cotton pads, cotton rags, sponges)
liquid dishwashing detergent and Dropper / 3 feathers

Procedure

-Form groups of 4 people;collect the materials you’ll need for the experiment

-Note – your Observations will be the responses to the Analysis questions.

1. Pour 100 mL of “ocean” water into each of the 250 mL beakers (4). Observe the water.

Answer question 1 (consider what we have already learned in class)…

2. Simulate the crude oil spill by mixing20mL of vegetable oil with a ½ teaspoon of cocoa powder in the small100 mL plastic beaker. Mix the cocoa powder and oil thoroughly with a popsicle stick. (OR mix 80 mL oil and 2 tsp cocoa and divide evenly into 4 beakers )

3. Very slowly, pour the simulated crude oil from a height of 1 cm onto the top of the saltwater. If you pour the oil too quickly, the experiment will not work.

Answer question 2

4. Wait three minutes. Do you want to change your answer to number 2?

5. Measure how much oil you have with a sheet of loose leaf held up to your beaker and mark how much oil is present with a pencil. (Relative amount – e.g. 0.8 cm depth)

6. Before starting this part see question 3!Test each of the absorbent materials one at a time by placingthem into the centre top of the contaminated saltwater. Partly submerge each one so that it is in both the oil and water mixture, and then release it. Let it remain in the mixture for 1 minute.

Answer questions 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

7. Dip each feather thoroughly in the contaminated saltwater. Wipe it with paper towel and then try to clean one in (A) detergent; one in (B) vinegar; and one in (C) alcohol

Answer question 9, 10, 11 (Feathers go into the garbage!)

8. Pour mixture into sink and rinse, wash your beakerswith soap and dry; return to lab bench. Wash and wipe your work area!

9. Prepare a new contaminated saltwater sample in a Petri dish. Pour about 1 cm of water into the dish, and 5 drops of oil and then 3 drops of detergent. When finished, wash out your Petri dish in soapy water so that it is no longer greasy!

Answer questions 12,13 and 14

10. Go over to the “boom” station. There is a container with saltwater and oil in it. With the straws and string available at the station, create mock-booms that you will use to trap the oil in the container. When finished, put materials in the garbage.

Answer question 15

Oil Spill Analysis

Answer in proper sentences!

1. What’s the main difference between ocean water and tap water?
2. What happened to the oil when you dropped it in the saltwater? Did it sink? Float? Mix in?
3. List all your absorbents in one column and your observations regarding their absorption in another. Compare them to one another: which was the quickest? Slowest? Overall effectiveness?
4. Does the absorbent material pick up water too? If so, how can you tell?
5. Does the absorbent material sink or float?
6. How would you pick up the oil-contaminated material in a real oil spill?
7. How would you dispose of the oil-contaminated material in a real oil spill?
8. What other materials could you use as to absorb the oil?
9. What did you observe? Did the detergent clean the oil from the feather? (some, most, all)
10. What did you observe? Did the vinegar clean the oil from the feather? (some, most, all)
11. What did you observe? Did the alcohol clean the oil from the feather? (some, most, all)
12. What happened when the detergent was added to the contaminated water?
13. Is the water “clean” now that it has dishwashing liquid is in it?
14. How might oiled feathers affect a bird?
15. How might weather conditions alter these boom structures? Can they still be a useful method despite unpleasant weather? Explain.

Conclusion: