Oil Cleanup

Gather Your Supplies

For this experiment, we used a large plastic Tupperware bin, water, vegetable oil, a boat, foam sheets (for animal cutouts), paper towels, and a sponge. The great thing is you can mimic this setup with lots of replacement items!

Want an extra challenge? Try to clean up the “oil spill” with environmentally friendly supplies.

Set It up

Once you’re ready, follow these steps to quickly set up your experiment. First, fill the Tupperware bin halfway with water. Cut out animal shapes and plants from the foam sheets to place in the water; along with the boat. This will represent the ecosystem of the ocean!

You can also place various other things within the modeled ocean ecosystem such as sand, rocks, seaweed, or even a cleaned bird feather if you prefer.

Finally, when everything is in the bin with water, have the oil spill ready to go (about two or more tablespoons).

Now you’re ready to do some science and make observations!

Hypothesize, experiment, and observe!

Let’s think about oil - Oil is a nonpolar liquid substance that is used as fuel for machines. It comes from natural fossil fuels (remains of dead organisms) as it is extracted from the ground. Oil does not blend with water due to the polarity of water. This means that oil is repelled by water and does not want to dissolve in it. However, the oil will mix within the water when an outside force such as waves and wind causes movement in the water. Think about when you see oil stains on the road even after it rained, the liquid oil was carried away by the water but what was absorbed into the road remains. You’re now looking at the relationship between oil and water.

What do you think is going to happen when you spill the oil onto the ecosystem model of the ocean? what will happen to the animal and plant cutouts? What will be the best way to clean up the oil spill? Once you come up with your hypothesis (a guess about what will happen), it’s time to enact an oil spill in the ocean and watch it spread across the water.

Try to use different materials to clean up the oil spill as much as possible; we used paper towels and a sponge. Have the kids think of tools and inventions that could clean the oil up.

Was your hypothesis right? Take photos of you and your experiment and tag @kct_trust_in_education and @kportconservation on Instagram to share with us!