Oil Spill Consequences and Cleanup Technologies
Figure 1. Oil being skimmed from the sea surface in Prince William Sound, AK.Copyright NOAA http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/photos/exxon/10.html
Students explore an important role of environmental engineers—cleaning the environment. They learn details about the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which was one of the most publicized and studied human-caused environmental tragedies in history. Then, in the associated activity, students experiment with many "engineered" strategies to clean up their own manufactured oil spill and learn the difficulties in dealing with oil released into our waters.
When oil spills occur, environmental engineers help clean them up. They determine which type of cleanup method is best for different situations by examining the weather patterns of the area, the type of oil spilled, and what living creatures and natural environments are being affected by the spill. Their efforts, plus those of many rescue workers, help restore habitat after such a disaster occurs.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Explain an oil spill in terms of density of a liquid.
- Relate oil spills to an environment's ability to provide food, water, space and essential nutrients for its inhabitants.
- Describe one oil spill event in history and use numbers to understand the magnitude of the spill.
- Describe some technologies used by environmental engineers to cleanup oil spills.