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Cotton for Clean-Up

This experiment will test the effectiveness of cotton in picking up oil from an oil spill. I found out that cotton does suck-up a lot of oil, but it also picks up a lot of water. Cotton worked well to clean-up the bottom and sides of the container. I also found out that cotton can hold the oil from moving around the water. In conclusion, I think that cotton is the best material I tested in the experiment in absorbing the oil on the surface of the water. In my research, I found cotton could be used to prevent the oil from moving around and breaking up. I also found on the internet that they are using hair, and this can be vert effective. They are also testing using animal hair as well, like wool. I like the idea of using cotton combined with hair and will be testing that in the future.

Clean-up with a Spoon

This experiment was to test if a spoon could effectively clean-up oil from an oil spill. I found out that the oil slips out of the spoon. The second finding is that the spoon does get lots of oil, but with lots of water too. I also found that it was impossible to clean below the surface with a spoon. In conclusion, I can say that using a spoon is not the best way because , it is hard to collect the oil, we collect a lot of water with the oil, and it is impossible to get oil that is under the surface of the water.

Paper Towel as Absorbant

This experiment is testing how well paper towel works as a material to clean-up an oil spill. I found out that the paper towel will pick-up oil well if you break through the surface tension of the water. It absorbed oil on the surface quickly. The paper towels works well dry, but once wet, does not work at all. Oil under the surface could not be picked up by paper towel. In conclusion, I can say that paper towel is effective on the surface, but not below the surface.

How does oil feel in the ocean?

This experiment tests how it feels to be a plant, fish or mammal in the ocean after an oil spill.

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