Understand oil spills through this home experiment
Oil spills have a great negative impact on our environment and wildlife. Let your kids read a news piece on it, show them photos and then do this experiment to teach what happens, and how humans can help rectify the damage they have caused.
What you will need
You will need some common household objects mentioned in the list below:
- Shallow container
- Water
- Food colouring
- Cooking or edible oil
- Feather
- Dish soap
- Sponge
- Paper towels
- Plastic straw
- Cotton balls
- Syringe
- Empty bowl
Once you have assembled these on a table, start the experiment.
Part 1: Birds and beasts caught in oil spills
Here is a step-by-step guide for the experiment:
1. Fill the bowl halfway with water, and add a drop or two of food colouring
2. Set the feather in the water and ask your child to notice what happens; does it float or sink? Take the feather out and set it on paper towel
3. Pour about 2 tablespoons of oil into the water now
4. Dip the feather and smear oil in it. Your child will notice it is heavier now and sinks slightly
5. Dry the feather with the paper towel, wash with soap, dry and present to your child to put it in the water again. They will see it floats now
Part 2: Removing oil from water
Here is the next part step by step:
- Cut the straw to fit the width of the container dish
- Fill the container with water, pour 2 teaspoons of oil
- Now get your child to use the straw to push the oil to one side, and they can try this till only a small bit of oil is left
- Now they can try to remove the oil with cotton balls, and throw the remnant away by drawing it out with the syringe
What did the experiment teach kids?
In the first part of the experiment, they learnt how birds and animals get coated with oil, but maybe saved if we rescue them. The next part showed them how oil spills may be contained. This simple experiment will help them understand how we can damage nature, and how we can try to rectify the wrong.