Oil Spill Clean-Up: The Natural Way!

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Oil Spill Clean-Up The Natural Way!
Image courtesy of EPA
Mathematics Science Center
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Oil Spills A Fact of Life
Photo by EPA
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Spills Result From.

• Accidents
• Dumping
• Our drains

Photo by EPA
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Various Types of Substances Find Their Way to the
Bay
Photo by N. Hamm
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And Have Negative Effects on the Ecosystem,
Organisms, and US!
Photo by NOAA
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Oil and Water
What happens when oil and water mix? How can oil
harm living organisms?
Photo by N. Hamm
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Oil Floats on Water
Homogeneous mixture Heterogeneous mixture
Photo by NOAA
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Oil Spill Spreading

• With low wind speed
• With high wind speed

Photo by NOAA
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How Would YOU Clean-up an Oil Spill?
Photo by EPA
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Methods of Clean-up

• Biological
• Chemical
• Physical
• (or Mechanical)

Photo by EPA
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BOOMS are First Used toContain the Oil Spill
Photo by EPA
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Biological Methods
Photo by NOAA
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Chemical
Photo by EPA
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Physical Mechanical
Photo by EPA
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Why Not UseNATURAL RESOURCES!

• Occur naturally or are natural by-products
• Are readily available
• Do not harm the environment
• Are they effective? Which is best?

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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!

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Scientists Use MODELS toTest Their Hypotheses
Photo by N. Hamm
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Natural Resources

• Cotton
• Chicken Feathers!
• Sawdust
• Peat Moss and Spanish Moss
• Perlite

What is your HYPOTHESIS?
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Rating the Different Materials

• We will Rate TWO QUALITIES of the different
  materials
• Their ability to absorb oil
• Their ease of use

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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

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One Teams Results
Photo by A.C. Lundberg
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Clean-up Procedure

• Dump out pan into strainer in sink. Rinse out
  pan.
• Wipe off utensils (fork, forceps) and return to
  kit.
• Close all materials bags and return to kit.
• Throw away newspaper and material testing sheet.
• Wipe off lab table.

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Experimental Design

• Title
• Which natural resource will clean-up oil best?
• Hypothesis
• I hypothesize that the _______ will absorb oil
  the best.

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Experimental Design

• Independent Variable
• Type of natural resource
• Methods
• Trials ()
• per group or per class

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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

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Visit http//mysterycargo.info for more
adventures
http//mysterycargo.info
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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

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Life