This experiment is designed to help you to understand the difficulties involving oil spill cleanups. To
perform this experiment you will need the following materials:

• One cake pan or similar container approximately 20 cm x 20 cm;
• 480 mL of clean pea-size gravel;
• 480 mL of water;
• 480 mL clear plastic cup;
• An eyedropper or plastic spoon;
• Three pipe cleaners;
• A piece of plastic wrap 10cm x 5 cm;
• Ten cotton balls (use real cotton);
• A piece of nylon stocking 10cm x 5 cm;
• 120 mL of wood chips;
• Four paper towels;
• 30 mL of dark olive oil.

Teacher Preparation:
This activity is designed for students to work in groups of three.
1. Wash the pea-size gravel
2. Place the 480 mL of pea-size gravel on one side of the cake pan/container, and pour all of the
water on the other side. Make sure that most of the pea-size gravel remains on one side of the
container. This material is to represent a riverbank, a lakeshore, or an ocean beach.

Procedure:
Complete each of the following steps, and observe what happens.
1. Divide the class into groups of three. Provide each group with a cake pan/container prepared
as described above, a plastic cup, three pipe cleaners, an eyedropper/plastic spoon, ten cotton
balls, a piece of nylon stocking, four paper towels, a piece of plastic wrap and wood chips.
2. Have each student make an animal from the pipe cleaners and lay it on the gravel next to the
water.
3. Explain to the students that they are going to clean up an oil spill that occurred at a local river,
lake or ocean beach (you decide). Inform the students that the gravel represents the bank,
shore or beach of the water body you selected.
4. Pour 30 mL of olive oil on the water of each group's model. Have one student blow the oil
toward the gravel to simulate water movement. The students should then attempt to clean up
the water, shore and animals using any of the materials provided. Encourage the students to
test each material and to clean carefully so they can determine which material works best.

Have the students place any oil and water they removed from the container in the plastic cup.

Interpretive Questions:
As the groups of three perform the experiment ask them to observe what
happens and answer the following questions. Afterwards, the groups of three can join together and
discuss their discoveries.
1. Which cleanup material proved to be the best for cleaning up the water? Which material
worked the best for cleaning up the "shoreline?"
2. Was there any difference in cleaning up the water when the conditions were calm and when
the conditions were rough (blowing on the water)?
3. Is there any way that a spill can be contained in one area? How could contaminants spread
from the area where the spill occurred?
4. How might people be exposed to contaminants? How might plants and animals be exposed to
contaminants?
5. What would happen if the oil spill were not cleaned up?
This activity was taken from http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/elemlab.htm,

Answers to certain questions have been included.
3. How could contaminants spread from the area where the spill occurred? Possible
answers include:
A river, creek or a stream can transport contaminants.
Vapors can be blown by the wind.
Wind can blow small soil particles to which the contamination is attached.
Contaminants can move down through the soil and get in the ground water.
4. How might people be exposed to contaminants? How might plants and animals be exposed to
contaminants? Possible answers include:
People can be exposed through the water they drink, the air they breathe, or by eating
contaminated crops, fish, or meat.
Plants can be contaminated through air and water.
Animals can eat contaminated plants, drink contaminated water, or breathe contaminated air.
5. What would happen if the oil spill were not cleaned up? Possible answers include:
The land and water would continue to be polluted.
Pollution would spread, threaten other areas, and affect additional plants, animals and people.