8th Grade: It’s Our Water
Station 3: Oil Spill Simulation
- What is an oil spill
- Hazards of an oil spill
- Ways to prevent an oil spill
- Oil spill simulation
- Covers NC Essential Standards: 8.P.2.1 and 8.P.2.2
Outline
1) Oil spill lecture (10 minutes)
a) What is an oil spill
b) Hazards
c) Prevention
2) Oil spill simulation (20 minutes)
Materials
Duct Tape/strong tape
Paper towels
Bendable straws
Cardboard
Cotton balls
Popscicle sticks
Dense foam wedge
Pencils
Large-mouth gallon buckets/pans
Bowls
Dawn dish soap
Red food coloring
Tablespoons
Vegetable oil
Water
Oil Spills
What is an oil spill? An oil spill is the release of liquid petroleum into the environment. This can happen
in both marine environments and on land. It is also a form of pollution. This can happen when tankers,
offshore platforms, and drilling rigs spill or release their products.
There are many hazards associated with oil spills. One is to animals. Oil penetrates the plumage of birds
and fur of mammals. This reduces their insulating ability making them vulnerable to temperature
fluctuations. This also reduces their ability to remain buoyant in water. Oil can also impair a birds ability
to fly. Another problem with animals is that some mothers rely on scent to find and recognize their
young. This scent can fade of be lost due to the strong smell of oil. This leads the mother to abandon or
reject her young.
Humans are also affected by oil spills. It causes a fire hazard and the smoke from burning oil can cause
respiratory problems in some people. Oil can also penetrate into the ground and affect drinking water
supplies. The economy is also affected by a reduction in tourism.
Clean up efforts and recovery from an oil spill can be time consuming and expensive. There are several
different types of equipment used to clean up oil spills:
• Absorber: material used to make up booms that help absorb oil while being contained
• Boom: oil-containment device that floats on the surface of the water and is used as a barrier to
keep oil in or out of a specific location
• Dispersant: chemicals sprayed on oil to cause it to break up and sink
• Skimmer: floating boom system that sweeps oil across the water surface, concentrating the oil
Activity
This activity is to show students how people use different types of equipment and resources to cleam up
and remove oil from the water after a spill.
1) Divide the students into groups of 4.
2) Have students measure out 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil into a bowl. Add 1-4 drops of food
coloring into the oil and have students mix it around. The vegetable oil represents crude oil and the
food coloring represents chemicals trapped inside the oil. Make sure students realize that the food
coloring will not mix completely in the oil.
3) Give each student a large bowl/pan. Have them fill it halfway up with water.
4) Also give each student the supplie materials (pieces of cotton, cardboard and paper towels.
5) Next, have a student carefully pour their oil/food coloring mixture into the center of the pan with
water. This represents the oil spill.
6) Float a one inch craft stick in the center of the pan of water.
7) Ask the students to one at a time use the supplied materials to try and remove the oil. Tell them
they are trying to clean up the spill using different equipment before using a dispersant.
8) Ask each group what material is working and what is not?
9) Once all of the provided materials have been tried tell the students they will now use a dispersant.
a) Have them add a few drops of dawn dish soap to their oil spill.
i) What happened? Why?
ii) What happened to the chemicals (dye? Why?
iii) What color is the water? Why?
10) Discuss: Did any method completely remove the oil? What happened to the chemicals (dye)?