Oil spills can destroy beautiful ocean waters.
Oil spills happen when carelessness or mistakes cause oil to leak into a waterway. Science projects help students make predictions and learn what can happen when an oil spill occurs. Whether an oil spill is caused by faulty equipment or human error, students can learn about oil spills and clean them up.
Feathers
For this science experiment, you will need a feather, a spray bottle filled with water, vegetable oil, soapy water and a toothbrush. Spray water on the feather. Notice how the feather repels the water. This tells you that the feather is healthy. Next, dip the feather in the vegetable oil. The feather will begin to droop because of the weight of the oil. Spray water onto the oily feather. You will see that the feather is unable to repel the water due to the oil. Try washing the feather with the soapy water. Scrub it with the toothbrush to make sure it's clean of all of the oil. After it dries, look to see if the feather has returned to normal. This experiment demonstrates the effects of oil spills on birds that may come in contact with oily water.
Ocean Life and Oil Spills
This project requires a large clear jar, one gallon of distilled water, blue food coloring, cooking oil, a notebook, a rubber duck and other marine-life bath toys. Wash and dry the jar. Fill it halfway with distilled water and a few drops of food coloring to simulate an ocean. Float the bath toys in the "ocean." Pour cooking oil in the water, but not directly on the toys. Record observations. Swirl the water to simulate waves. The oil will float on the top of the water, just as an oil spill does. The rubber toys will only have water on their underside. When the waves arrive, the oil will splash onto the other parts of the animals. Students will also see how ocean animals that come up for air suddenly will be covered in oil.
Gumming Up the Works
Start with a piece of chunky bubble gum and put it into the freezer overnight. Fill a pie plate halfway with water and put 10 drops of vegetable oil into the plate. Use a toothpick to push the drops of oil together. Slice the gum into small strips onto a piece of paper. Lift the paper and sprinkle gum into the oil. Make sure that a few of the pieces of gum fall directly into the water. Wait 30 minutes. Students will observe that the gum that was dropped directly onto the oil absorbed the oil, while the gum that was dropped right into the water did not. Gum and oil are made up of nonpolar molecules. Nonpolar molecules will absorb one another. However, water is a polar molecule. Thus, the water is not absorbed.
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