Oil Spill Lab-
By: Yasmin, Heidi, Lauren and Teresa
Purpose
The purpose of this experiment is to find the right product to clean an oil spill in a bucket halfway with water.
Hypothesis
If 4 materials are used to clean up an oil spill, then cotton balls will be the
most effective cleaning product.
Variables
Independent: Cleaning products (spoon, cotton balls, sponge and paper towel)
Dependent: Amount of oil cleaned up
Controlled: Amount of oil, amount of water, amount of cleaning materials, temperature, bins
Materials
Crude oil (50 ml)
washbasin
water
250 ml beaker
7 cotton balls
1 sponge
2 spoons
5 paper towels
Procedure
1. Fill your washbasin halfway with water.
2. Pour 50 ml of crude oil in the bucket.
3. Take your spoon and attempt to keep the oil in one side of the washbasin. Record your results.
4. Take the spoon and scoop out as much oil as you can. Record your results.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 wit the other materials instead of spoon (sponge, cotton balls and paper towel)
Results
The purpose of this experiment is to find the right product to clean an oil spill in a bucket halfway with water.
Hypothesis
If 4 materials are used to clean up an oil spill, then cotton balls will be the
most effective cleaning product.
Variables
Independent: Cleaning products (spoon, cotton balls, sponge and paper towel)
Dependent: Amount of oil cleaned up
Controlled: Amount of oil, amount of water, amount of cleaning materials, temperature, bins
Materials
Crude oil (50 ml)
washbasin
water
250 ml beaker
7 cotton balls
1 sponge
2 spoons
5 paper towels
Procedure
1. Fill your washbasin halfway with water.
2. Pour 50 ml of crude oil in the bucket.
3. Take your spoon and attempt to keep the oil in one side of the washbasin. Record your results.
4. Take the spoon and scoop out as much oil as you can. Record your results.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 wit the other materials instead of spoon (sponge, cotton balls and paper towel)
Results
Discussion
In our hypothesis, we stated that cotton balls would be the most effective product to clean up an oil spill. Our hypothesis was proved incorrect. The spoon turned out to be the most effective product by cleaning up 60% of the oil and containing 9%. After the spoon, we had the cotton balls as the second effective product to clean up the oil spill. It contained the oil by 7% and it absorbed and cleaned up the oil spill by 20%. As our third effective product, we had the sponge. It contained 15% of the oil, and absorbed 19%. Finally, paper towel was the least effective product to clean up the oil spill in the bucket full of water. Its ability to contain had the highest percentage, which was 40. However, it only absorbed 1% of the oil. We think this is because all the other materials only absorbed while we could control what the spoon took exactly (Let’s Talk Science, 2013).
We used 7 cotton balls, 1 sponge, 2 spoons, and 5 paper towels to attempt to soak up as much oil as possible. There was exactly 50ml before we started cleaning.
We took the oil out mostly by scooping it out with the spoon. The other cleaning products either didn’t absorb that much or just gave out. All of our variables
were considered. The cleaning products that we used all came from the same place. We measured our oil in beakers so that it was accurate. We did measure
the amount of oil.
As shown in graph 1, the spoon was the most effective way of taking out oil. It’s very time consuming, but still the best method. We have discovered that cleaning
up oil spills is not easy. This is why it’s such a big problem every time there’s an oil spill because they’re so challenging to clean up, as we have discovered. Our results probably would’ve been expected if we’d done more research. We would’ve realized that absorption is not the best way to get out oil from water. Picking it out with a spoon or another bowl-shaped material is more effective.
In the end, we do believe that this experiment was successful. All the variables were measured, and it was very fun. If we could do it again, we would change the
amount of oil in relation to the amount of water to see if it would make it easier or harder. A possible source of error would be that the oil that we took out and measured was not pure oil but had some water in it as well.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this experiment was valid and successful. All our variables were accounted for and it was accurate. This experiment demonstrated cleaning up an
oil spill because we demonstrated a small portion of a larger oil spill and tried to clean it up. It proved to be very hard which shows that cleaning up a
larger oil spill is even more difficult. Our hypothesis was proved incorrect, but we did research later and proved why it was wrong.