Oil spills!
December 2, 2007 by tifftai
**NEWS FLASH*** OIL SPILL IN SOUTH KOREA ON DEC. 6th***
See the NYTimes article here.
This week, we’ll have a special curriculum about oil spills. We’ll begin with a Webquest in which you will conduct internet research to learn about how oil spills happen, how we respond/cleanup, the environmental effects, and how we can prevent oil spills. Then we’ll conduct a mock oil spill cleanup to investigate the effectiveness of different cleanup methods.
Oil spill information links for Webquest
Exploring Earth: Oil Spill- interactive website, info about oil spills and how they spread
NOAA: What’s the Story on Oil Spills?-info about how oil spills happen, cleanup methods, who’s responsible, prevention
NOAA: Oil Spills at the Water’s Edges-info about the effect on the environment on the surface of the water and the shore
Oil Spills Thinkquest-good info on how animals are affected and cleaned up; focus on the Exxon Valdez
NOAA: Frequently asked questions- FAQ on oil spills
International Bird Rescue Research Center blog- by Russ Curtis, our technology master; info about how oiled birds are washed
Links to articles about the SF Bay spill on Nov. 7, 2007:
SF Chronicle 11/9/07 “Spill closes bay beaches as oil spreads, kills wildlife”
NY Times 11/9/07 “Oil spills in San Francisco Bay”
San Jose Mercury News “Timeline of the Bay Area Oil Spill”
Marin Independent Journal 11/28/07 “After oil spill cleanup, sea birds set free in Tomales Bay”
Oil spills are bad for animals and the NOAA’s do a good job…
The most intesting thing i learned was oil is spread by wind, this information stood out to me because i always thought oil was a very hard substance to move.
The most surprising information I learned was how harmful Oil Spills were to the wildlife. I knew it wasn’t good for it but i didn’t know how much it takes to restore the areas. I had know clue how much you had to do to clean up the birds. I now have a lot of hatred to the careless people who do stupid things like run into bridges and cause oil spills.
I think oil spills are bad and the NOAA’s views on the oils spills and how they are spread have good descriptions so i had no problem with understanding them.
the most surprising thing i learned was all the tools that are used to get the oil out of the water.
The birds get cleaned by a little hose individually and then washed even more so I think the people wo do it are nice to do that to help the birds like that
something that i learned was that so many birds were getting killed.
I learned tat computers can predict where the oil spills go
Hi Tiffany,
What I found most interesting but also really sad was about how the birds died by the oil covering there wings, and then they would get poisoned because they started to clean themselves.
- oriana
The most surprising thing I learned was how bad the oil affects all the animals and how the oil looks when its on water.
i think it is cool that people go through so much work to save animals wooo
I learned that a slick is when oil forms a thin sheen and a spill is the general term. I thought a slick was the general term!
The most interesting thing that I learned was that when ducks and other waterbirds are exposed to oil, their feathers become matted and can’t repel water.
Oil spills are bad for the environment because it hurts land and sea animals. Oil spills hurt people too.
I leaned that computers can track down were the oil is going to go before the oil gets there!!!!!
the fact that you can dry victimized birds with WATER,why wouldn’t it stand out from the rest?
I had no idea that there were so many different types of oil in an oil spill (like the ways they look!)
Grant
Its mest up that even though the oil spill was an accident, the person who caused it has to pay $1200!
I found out about the oil spill and how important it was.
I also found out that there are people wo really care about birds and sea mammals. people and children clean the birds. I found a few methods about oil spills and how to prevent them
It’s really cool how they clean the birds and the people that clan them are awsome. It’s so sad that some of the bird’s die.
I found out about the oil spill and how important it was.
I also found out that there are people wo really care about birds and sea mammals. people and children clean the birds. I found a few methods about oil spills and how to prevent them
,Austin
Oill spills are so sad. I wonder what it would be like to be a bird in that situation. It must be so scary for them! Is there anyway to be a volenteer and help out at oill spills?
it’s so crappy that the oil is killing sea otters!!!!!!!
I also can’t belive that this happens. Its so suprising! I’m fasinated with the intruments they use to clean it up!
we can use less oil to prevent oil spills. yea buses!
Hi Tiffany,
one of the things that surprised me the most was how harmful oil spills are for the environment. i know that they were bad, but i didn’t realize how horrible for the animals there, but i think that its really good how you taught us about it, because it is really inportant to educate others about this.
-alice
The most interesting thing I learned was how harmful oil spills are. I didn’t know much about oil spills until recently. I am very surprised about how many animals can be affected by oil spills. The thing i really learned was to use less electricity and and oil; I also learned that I should try to use my car less
I THINK THAT IT IT COOL HOW THEY CLEAN THE BIRDS WITH HIGH PRESSURIZED WHAT TO DRY THERE WINGS .THEN THEY DRY THERE WINGS TO MAKE THEM WATER RESSISTANT
The most interesting thing that I learned about oil spills was how many animals and plants it effects and that we are very careless to make them happen so often.
I was surprised to find out that the Exxon Valdez spill could fill 9 gymnasiums with oil.
I learned how the birds are cleaned, and how many oil spills have happened. I guess I knew that there were a lot, but I just never really thought about it.
The one thing i found most interesting on this site was how many animals the oil spils it affected and how any died. I also foun it really interesting on how long the process to cleanup the birds it took. it was really disturbing on how little people cared about it and didnt pay any attention to it
tiff, throughout this activity i have not made much progress i have answered questions 8, 1, 2, and 6 i am working on 9 i think that the most interesting thing that i have learned so far is how a bird is cleaned up. but i will keep working.
i learned there are many kinds of oil
cool i learned sooo much!!
i learned a lot today
i learned a lot
i am aawesome
The most interesting thing I found out was that they used computer models to guess where the oil had the highest probability of spreading to, this information stood out to me because It occurred to me how use full this could be
I found this thing interesting because I was shocked about the animals and the oil spill pictures looked really cool and gross.
(Gross is the new cool).
What surprised me the most was how harmful an oil spill could be and how fast it can spread.
I also found it sad how countries at war spill oil on purpose.
Hi Tiffany,
The thing that surprised me was how much we depen d on oil. From those fact charts it almost seems like if there was no oil we wouldn’t survive which makes me sad because I thought it was getting better with you know people buying the priuses. But I guess I was wrong. I also think it’s totally outragious that people are too thoughtless to care and that’s how some oil spills happen. All this info was very shocking.
-Emma
The most suprising thing that i learned was that oil spills can spread so quickly and i learned from another site that a scientist made or found a bacteria that eats the oil and outs out carbon dioxide and water, they said it would cheaper this way then any other way to remove oil from the ocean surface.
the oil webquest was really cool! i thought the way birds got cleaned was especially interesting. i liked NOAA’s websites alot.
ps. i’m glad that people are working to clean up the recent oil spill. i hope our bach has fine sand so the oil won’t sink in!
I can’t believe that people would dump illegally so they wouldn’t have to pay money to decompose it.And that really sucks that whales die if they eat a fish that has been poisoned by oil… WHY MUST THE GOOD ONES DIE!!!!
The most suprising thing to me was that lots of oil spills happen just becuase people are carless and lazy! This stood out to me because if people were more aware and cautius it could prevent a spill that could harm hundreds of animals.
Wow! Some of this information is really depressing. The most interesting thing i learned was how much oil spills affect animals and the environments around oil spills. Also it was really cool to learn about how animals are rescued. Overall really cool project!
oil spills cause a negative chain reaction like coating the algae then the fish eat the algae and then people eat the fish and the oil gets into plants animals and people!!!!!!
I liked that they can burn stuff on top of water. (GO FIRE!)
I can’t believe that we use oil so much in our everyday lives. there is pretty much nothing we do that doesn’t require oil. the picture of the oil going toward Angel Island looks pretty cool but it is so bad. Do they really burn the oil?
Hey Timothy —
I totally understand how you feel. As Marvin the Paranoid Android says, “Life. Don’t talk to me about life.”
Life really gets me down too sometimes. The funny thing is that I feel better later, especially after I’ve cried a bit. Just remember — it’s going to be better later, so don’t hurt anybody. . . including yourself. Also, remember to get help if you feel *really* bad. Good luck!
You know, you guys, this is a science blog, not a depressing emo blog or something. As a good student, I must ask you to confine comments of that type to a different blog.