There are assorted methods for cleaning up oil spills. Some methods allow oil to be recovered. whereas others do non. Some methods are more expensive than others. some are more efficient than others. and some have more of an environmental impact. Regardless of the method used. cleaning up oil spilled on H2O is a really time-consuming and hard undertaking. In this activity. you will pattern assorted methods used for cleaning up an oil spill on H2O. Material and Equipment:

3 container for the oil-and-water mixture ( such as soup bowls ) Graduated cylinder or mensurating cup
Water
Vegetable oil
Medicine Dropper ( Skimmer )
Fictile Cup ( Oil Tank )
Chopped paper towel ( Sorbent )
Spoon
Powdered and/or liquid detergent ( Dispersant )
Hypothesis

Which method is the most efficient in cleaning up an oil spill on H2O? I think that the Skimmer is the most efficient because it is able to retrieve most of the oil in a sensible sum of clip. Skimmers besides have minimum intervention with the marine environment whereas Sorbents can drop which causes injury to the marine environment. Dispersants are besides non effectual since they break down the oil which subsequently sinks down to the underside of the ocean doing injury to the deep sea environment which is where many of marine life is found. it besides uses chemicals that are harmful to the environment.

Procedure
1. Copy the undermentioned chart
Method
Equipment
Observations
Rank
Skimmer
Medicine dropper

Sorbents
Chopped paper and spoon

Dispersants
Detergent and spoon

1. Using the calibrated cylinder. add 80 milliliter of H2O to each of the three containers. 2. Using the calibrated cylinder. step 5mL of vegetable oil. Slowly pour the oil into the first container so that the surface of the H2O is covered. Repeat the procedure for the other two containers. Clean up any oil or H2O that you spill. 3. To clean up the “oil spill” use the skimmer ( medicine dropper ) . sorbents ( chopped paper ) . and a dispersant ( powdery and/or liquid detergent ) . Remove as much oil from the oil-and-water mixture. Observe which method works most rapidly and recovers the most oil and record all observations in the tabular array. 4. After completing the undermentioned processs. rank each method from 1 to 3. 1 being the most efficient and 3 being the least efficient.

Skimmer
1. Skimmer- Using the medical specialty dropper as a skimmer. roll up the oil from the surface of one of the container. 2. Pour the gathered oil inside the dropper inside the oil armored combat vehicle ( fictile cup ) . 3. Repeat measure 1 and 2 until you have collected as much oil as possible. Sorbents

1. Tear the paper towel into smaller pieces.
2. Disperse the sorbents ( little pieces of the paper towel ) onto the surface of the H2O in the 2nd container. 3. Wait till the sorbents ( little pieces of the paper towel ) have absorbed as much oil as it can. 4. Use the spoon in order to retrieve all the sorbents ( little pieces of the paper towel ) from the container. 5. Put the sorbents ( little pieces of the paper towel ) onto the oil armored combat vehicle ( fictile cup ) 6. Repeat steps 2 to 5 until you have removed as much oil as possible. Dispersants

1. Pour a spoonful of detergent into the 3rd container.
2. Wait for a few proceedingss for the detergent to make its work.
3. Roll up the oil with the spoon until you have collected as much oil as possible.

Observations
Method
Equipment
Observations
Rank
Skimmer
Medicine dropper
The skimmer broke up the oil into smaller blobs.
It removed significantly more H2O than oil.
It took a much longer clip to take the oil
2
Sorbents
Chopped paper and spoon
Absorbed a batch of H2O along with the oil nevertheless. a important sum of oil was left on the surface of the H2O. The Sorbents sunk down to the underside of the container.
1
Dispersants
Detergent and spoon
Detergent sunk down and so broke the oil into smaller blobs. It took a long clip before the detergent had any consequence.
Took about 15 proceedingss for the oil to drop down to the underside of the container. 3

Question
Analyzing and Interpreting
1. When you easy poured the oil onto the H2O. did it float or drop? Explain your observation in footings of denseness. a. When the oil was poured onto the H2O of each container. the oil floated. This is due to the fact that. any substance that has a lower denseness than the other fluid. the substance will drift. In this instance. oil has a denseness of 0. 88g/cm3 whereas H2O has denseness of 1g/cm3 which means the oil will drift atop of the H2O because it has a lower denseness than H2O. 2. Which of the three methods do you believe would hold the least impact on the environment? Explain. a. The skimmer was able to retrieve about all the oil with the least impact to the environment. However. it besides removed a batch of H2O from the container and took much longer than the other methods. On the other manus. Dispersants made it much easier to take the oil with the spoon but it introduced harmful chemicals into the environment which could hold had annihilating effects on the environment. The Sorbents were besides really uneffective because it did non take sufficient sum of oil and besides sank to the underside which could ensue in the decease of many sea animals chiefly because there isn’t truly a “giant spoon” to take the sorbents from the ocean in existent life state of affairss. this goes the same to Dispersants. because the little oil blobs had to be removed manually by utilizing the spoon. 3. If a strong air current was blowing and the surface of the H2O was rough. which method do you believe would the best? Explain. a. Exploitation Dispersant would be the best method because it will interrupt down the oil into smaller blobs which will than drop down to the underside. Although this may hold a negative consequence on the environment. it will still take the oil from the surface of the H2O. On the other manus. utilizing sorbents will non take sufficient sum of oil and may hold a negative environmental consequence. Using Skimmers will besides be uneffective since they merely work on unagitated Waterss.

4. Evergreen state cleaning up your oil spill more hard or easier than you thought it would be? Explain. a. It was much harder than I thought it would be because we had to wait for some of the effects to go on to the oil-and-water mixture for some methods. We besides realized that we had to be more careful and precise.

Skill Builder

1. In Science. it is frequently utile to utilize Numberss or measurings when comparing different methods. Suppose you wanted to take a measuring so that you could compare the three methods. Explain what measuring you would take and how you would alter the process to roll up the measuring. In order to compare the three methods. I would utilize milliliters as my unit of measuring. However. the current process has many defects that make the consequences really inaccurate and undependable. In order to repair these defects. I would foremost hold three separate alumnus cylinders for each one of the containers. Than the undermentioned alterations would be made: i. Skimmer: after the medical specialty dropper suctions in the oil and the H2O from the container. wait a few proceedingss so as the oil and the H2O can divide go forthing the H2O in the underside. Then. force the medical specialty dropper so as all the H2O in the underside of the dropper is released into the container. go forthing merely the oil inside which will be placed inside the first alumnus cylinder. Then. go on the procedure until you have removed as much oil as possible. Then. mensurate the removed oil in the alumnus cylinder and record it. two. Dispersants: since the dispersants sinks the oil to the underside of the container after about 15 proceedingss. Use a Separation funnel alternatively of a container. Then. wait till all the oil has sunk down to the underside of the funnel. Then. divide the H2O at the underside of the funnel and pour the oil into the 2nd alumnus cylinder. Then. mensurate the cured oil and record it. three. Sorbents: after completing the process for sorbents listed supra. pour the oil-and –water mixture into a Separation funnel. Then. wait till all the oil has sunk down to the underside of the funnel. Then. divide the H2O at the underside of the funnel and pour the oil into the 3rd alumnus cylinder. Then deduct the sum of left over oil from the original sum of oil which was 5mL in order to happen out the sum of oil that was absorbed by the sorbents so enter it. B. Finally compare all the recovered oil through the different methods. Forming decisions

1. Two factors that determine the efficiency of the clean-up method are how rapidly the oil was cleaned up and the sum of oil that was cleaned up. Using these two factors. explain which method you believed was the most efficient. a. Skimmers: I think that Skimmer was the most efficient because of the followers: The Time Factor

The Amount of Oil recovered
Take a spot more than the sensible sum of clip because we had to be more careful. It besides took longer at the terminal because the oil broke up in smaller blobs. It recovered most of the oil. However. it besides removed a batch of H2O which left us with about half of what we had at the terminal of the experiment. It besides had the least impact on the environment b. Dispersant

The Time Factor
The Amount of oil recovered
It took approximately 2 to 4 proceedingss for the oil to interrupt up into smaller blobs and took approximately 15 to 20 proceedingss for the oil to drop down to the underside of the container. Most of the oil was recovered. nevertheless. big sums of H2O was besides removed. It was about impossible to retrieve the oil from the underside of the container unless we use a Separation funnel.
c. Sorbents

The Time Factor
The Amount of oil recovered
The paper towels absorbed as much H2O as it was able to right after it came in contact with the surface of the oil-and-water mixture. The paper towel absorbed every bit much as it could. nevertheless. it didn’t recover sufficient sum of oil. It besides absorbed a batch of H2O as it sank down to the underside of the container.