Students Look For ‘Slick’ Solutions To Oil Spill

By Nancy K. Crevier

Using teamwork and hands-on experimentation, a group of 12 youngsters, ages 7 to 10, discovered Tuesday afternoon, July 20, that containing and cleaning up an oil spill — even one of just two tablespoons — is harder than it looks, and that many solutions result in new problems that must be resolved.

The second of a five-part “Water Wizards” series at the C.H. Booth Library, organized by children’s librarian Alana Bennison and led by Newtown resident Bonnie Shugrue, a mother of three and former science teacher, Tuesday’s program focused on oil spills, in light of the disastrous spill in the Gulf. John Renjilian, 15-year-old Leah Wallace, and 12-year-old Russell Jacobs assisted Ms Shugrue.

The previous program, July 13, examined removing salt from water through distillation.

“I love science,” said Ms Shugrue, “so this is right up my alley.” The July 20 program was designed to show children how difficult it is to get oil out of water. “We’ll make ‘mini oceans,’ and then experiment with adding oil to show how oil and water can’t mix,” said Ms Shugrue, prior to the start of the Tuesday afternoon program. “Maybe the kids can come up with some new ideas,” she said.

 Before diving into their mini oceans, dyed blue with food color for better experimentation, Ms Shugrue offered some insight into why oil spills spell trouble for oceans. “It’s important that we keep water clean, and conserve it. Only .003 percent of the water on the whole earth is usable water,” she explained. Sea animals and fish are affected adversely by an oil spill, as are land animals and birds when the oil washes up on shore, she told the attentive group.

The challenge of removing oil from water was exemplified when Ms Shugrue poured a drop of vegetable oil into each child’s hand, had them rub it around, and notice how hard it was to get it off. “What if you were a bird or a seal covered in oil?” she asked them.

An experiment on density followed, using water, vegetable oil, and corn syrup to show why oil does not disperse in the ocean. With an array of “solutions” nearby, Ms Shugrue then explained that in the Gulf, many solutions are being tried to resolve the oil spill. “Some of the things they are using are ‘absorbents,’ which are things that ‘take in’ a substance,” she explained. The students then pointed out the supplies that qualified as absorbents: cotton balls and newspaper strips. Adsorbents, explained Ms Shugrue, are materials that attract oil to the outside of the material.

“So in the Gulf, they have been collecting pet and human hair to act as an adsorbent,” she said, pointing out the supply of hair clippings.

Students would also be able to experiment with sawdust, she said, and decide how well it worked. String was provided, as well. “Oil can spread very quickly, you’ll see,” said Ms Shugrue. “String acts like a fence to contain a spill, which is kind of what they are doing with the ‘booms’ you hear about.” Forks, spoons, and sieves were also at the students’ disposal as they began coming up, working in teams of two, with an action plan for ridding their basin “oceans” of the oil spilled into it.

Most began by trying to contain the oil with string, but Harrison Hoffet said that he did not find it to be effective. Then the teams tried blotting up the oil with the cotton balls and newspaper, or using the snippets of hair to get the oil out of the water.

“Cotton balls work best,” said Harrison. “The hair helped, but it is hard to get out of the water,” he added, as he and his partner, Anthony Dorazio, fished the gummy mass out with a fork. Sabrina Bocuzzi agreed with Harrison that the cotton balls were best, as was newspaper. “The string didn’t do such a good job,” she observed.

As the experiments wrapped up, Ms Shugrue asked the group to look at the cleanup materials they had used, now clumped in sodden masses in bowls on each table. “This is just from one little ‘ocean,’” she pointed out. “What do we do with the cleanup material now? We need to recycle it or decontaminate all of it, so that’s a new problem. How costly do you think a big oil spill is?” she asked.

While most of the young people felt that the absorbents did the best job removing the oil, a lot of the water was also removed, the teacher said. “It’s difficult to remove just the spill and not the water, too,” she told the group.

The afternoon’s final experiment involved each child dipping a bird feather into the oily water and then trying to clean it with just water, a solution that the children found did not work. “We need soap, but can we dump a bunch of soap in the ocean? No. It spreads everywhere, and then we have another problem,” said Ms Shugrue.

Even good solutions can result in more problems, the class learned, leaving the program with a new respect for water, oil, and the problems in the Gulf.

On July 27, participants made a model aquifer.  “Water Wizards” will continue with programs on August 3 and August 10, from 3:30 to 4:30 pm, in the story room of the children’s library. On August 3, students will make an effective water filter, and on August 10, create a model wetland. To register for this program for children ages 7 to 10, go to chboothlibrary.org, children’s programs. It is not necessary to attend every program.