Oil Spill Simulation

Name: ________________________________________        

Oil Spill Simulation

Task: Your engineering firm has been contracted to investigate the best way to clean up an oil spill.  Your group must use a $100,000 budget to clean up the most oil from the simulated spill as possible. Use this activity sheet to record your material and budget use. This sheet will help to inform the development of your proposal for which materials and procedures would work best for cleaning up an oil spill.

Fill out the following worksheet with your material order requests, and calculate the total cost and the remaining budget

Type of MaterialCostQuantityCost x QuantityHow effective was the item?
spoon              $3000                  x                      =
Q-tip              $6000                 x                       =
Cotton Ball              $8000                  x                      = 
Dish soap (1tbsp)            $15000                  x                      =
Coffee filter            $2000                  x                        =
Pipet            $4000                  x                        =
_______________________Total Expenses* =
   Remaining Budget =


  1. What material(s) was most effective at removing the oil?  Why?
  2. How does oil affect feathers and other animals?
  3. What effect would an oil spill have on an ecosystem?
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