Mathematics & Science Center

Oil Spill Clean-Up: The Natural Way!

Image courtesy of EPA

Oil Spills… A Fact of Life

Photo by EPA

Spills Result From….

• Accidents

• Dumping

• Our “drains”

Photo by EPA

Various Types of Substances Find Their Way to the Bay

Photo by N. Hamm

And Have Negative Effects on the Ecosystem, Organisms, and US!

Photo by NOAA

Oil and Water

What happens when oil and water mix?

How can oil harm living organisms?

Photo by N. Hamm

Oil Floats on Water

Homogeneous mixture

Heterogeneous mixture

Photo by NOAA

Oil Spill Spreading

• With low wind speed

• With high wind speed

Photo by NOAA

How Would YOU Clean-up an Oil Spill?

Photo by EPA

Methods of Clean-up

• Biological

• Chemical

• Physical

(or Mechanical)Photo by EPA

BOOMS are First Used toContain the Oil Spill

Photo by EPA

Biological Methods

Photo by NOAA

Chemical

Photo by EPA

Physical Mechanical

Photo by EPA

Why Not Use…NATURAL RESOURCES!

• Occur naturally or are natural by-products

• Are readily available

• Do not harm the environment

• Are they effective? Which is best?

Your Task for Today

• Conduct an experiment using a Physical/Mechanical Method of oil clean-up!

• Determine which natural resource works the best for absorbing an oil spill!

Scientists Use MODELS toTest Their Hypotheses

Photo by N. Hamm

Natural Resources:

• Cotton

• Chicken Feathers!

• Sawdust

• Peat Moss and Spanish Moss

• Perlite

What is your HYPOTHESIS?

Rating the Different Materials

We will Rate TWO QUALITIES of the different materials:

• Their ability to absorb oil

• Their ease of use

Our Rating Scale

• We will rate the absorbency and the ease of use of each material by this scale:

1 = Good

2 = Fair

3 = Poor

One Team’s Results

Photo by A.C. Lundberg

Clean-up Procedure

1) Dump out pan into strainer in sink. Rinse out pan.

2) Wipe off utensils (fork, forceps…) and return to kit.

3) Close all materials bags and return to kit.

4) Throw away newspaper and material testing sheet.

5) Wipe off lab table.

Experimental Design

Title Which natural resource will clean-up

oil best?

Hypothesis I hypothesize that the _______ will

absorb oil the best.

Experimental Design

Independent Variable Type of natural resource

Methods

Trials (#) # per group or # per class

Experimental Design

Dependent Variable Amount of oil absorbed Ease of use

Constants Amount of oil, Time to absorb oil,

amount of material, type of oil, boom materials…

Visit

http://mysterycargo.infofor more adventures

http://mysterycargo.info

Acknowledgements

• Most images used in this lesson were obtained from the public domain courtesy of the United States Environmental Protection Agency

http://www.epa.gov

and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration

http://www.noaa.gov

• Additional images provided by Norbert Hamm and Chris Lundberg of the Mathematics & Science Center

http://www.mathsciencecenter.info

Life