Question
Which method of removing oil off water absorbs the most, in a time period of five minutes?
Purpose and Introduction
The purpose of this experiment and what we hope to achieve, is to observe which method is best for cleaning oil off of water. The tests being used are cotton balls, hay and cut up sponges. They are being placed in a mixture of 6 cups fresh water and 2 cups oil for a time period of five minutes. We are doing this experiment because it's important to find a way to clean up oceans better not only because of oil spills, such as the Gulf Oil spill in April 2010, but because of rain that washes air pollution particles into bodies of water. There is also the natural oil that seeps in from the ocean floor and the amount that gets washed down drains daily, that adds up too. We are investigating this experiment because it is important because we want to know how people are dealing with it now compared to how they could be handling it.
Science online: Caution urged in oil spill cleanup
This article talks about how some methods we use today to clean spills are hazardous to the environment. It explains how using detergent to clean it up causes another disaster of it's own. Terry Hazen, a microbial ecologist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, says that we have to remember that oil is a biological product and we should let the microbes (microorganisms) do it's work. That is true, but leaving it in the ocean will cause more problems for the wildlife in the area. Would soaking it up somehow similar to this experiment help? Could we let the microorganisms do their work after we take it out?
Science online: Caution urged in oil spill cleanup
This article talks about how some methods we use today to clean spills are hazardous to the environment. It explains how using detergent to clean it up causes another disaster of it's own. Terry Hazen, a microbial ecologist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, says that we have to remember that oil is a biological product and we should let the microbes (microorganisms) do it's work. That is true, but leaving it in the ocean will cause more problems for the wildlife in the area. Would soaking it up somehow similar to this experiment help? Could we let the microorganisms do their work after we take it out?