490 Unit 4: Ecology

Cleaning Oil SpillsOVERVIEW AND PURPOSEOne example of a harmful effect of human activity is an oil spill.You’ve probably heard about oil spills in the news. Damage to anoil-carrying ship or barge can cause thick black oil to spill intothe water. The oil floats on the water, and waves can carry theoil to shore. Oil gets caught on sand and living things that arepart of a coastal ecosystem. These spills are especially difficult toclean up. In this investigation you will

• simulate an oil spill and test the effectiveness of variousmaterials used to remove oil

• evaluate materials and processes used to clean up oil spills

What materials are effective at removing oil spilled near a coastal ecosystem?

Write a hypothesis to propose a material or materials that mightbest remove oil from a coastal area. Your hypothesis should takethe form of an “If . . . , then . . . , because . . .” statement.

Measure out 40 mL of vegetable oil in a small beaker. Stir in turmeric to make the oil yellow.

Pour sand into one end of the pan as shown to model a beach.

Procedure

Hypothesize WriteIt Up

ProblemWriteIt Up

MATERIALS • small beaker• 40 mL vegetable oil• turmeric• spoon• aluminum baking pan• sand• large beaker• water• sponge• dish soap• rubbing alcohol• paper towels• cotton balls• cotton rag• cornstarch• yarn• feather• seaweed

Carefully pour enough water into the pan so that it forms a model ocean at least 2 cm deep.Try not to disturb the sand pile.

Use the yellow-colored oilto model an oil spill. Pourthe oil onto the slope ofthe sand so that it runsoff into the water.

step 4

Test the materials for effectiveness in removingthe oil from the sand and the water.

Place the feather and the seaweed on the beach or in the water, where the oil is. Test materials for effectiveness in removing oil from the feather and seaweed.

Make a table in your Science Notebook like the one below. Record your observations on theeffectiveness of each material.

Using your observations from step 7, design aprocess for removing oil from sand and water.This process may involve several materials andrequire a series of steps.

1. RECORD Write up your procedure forcleaning oil from sand and water. You maywant to include a diagram.

2. EVALUATE What, if any, difficulties did you encounter in carrying out this experiment?

1. INTERPRET How do your results comparewith your hypothesis? Answer the problemstatement.

2. EVALUATE Which materials were mostuseful for cleaning the water? Were they thesame materials that were most useful forcleaning the sand?

3. EVALUATE Suppose you are trying toclean oil off of living things, such as a bird orseaweed. What process would you use?

4. IDENTIFY LIMITS In which ways did thisdemonstration fail to model a real oil spill?

CHALLENGE Explain how the observationsyou made in this investigation might be useful indesigning treatments for an actual oil spill.

INVESTIGATE Further

Conclude WriteIt Up

Observe and Analyze WriteIt Up

water sand feather seaweed

paper towel

cotton

Cleaning Oil Spills

Problem What material or method is most effective in containing or

cleaning up oil spills?

Hypothesis

Observations

Chapter 14: Human Impact on Ecosystems 491