Cleaning Up Our Oil Spill

On Thursday we added 10 mL of red parafin oil to a pan of water to simulate an oil spill. We then used a variety of materials to see whether we could clean the oil out of the water. At this time the verdict is still unclear as to which material worked the best, but some students were successful and some were not. (Not all students have submitted their results)

Below is the result of adding soap (similar to the dispersant used in the Gulf) to the oil that was left in the pan. No one felt that this was a very good solution!