Oil+Spills

== =Oil Spills= =For my science night project, I chose to study oil spills. Oil spills, are one of nature’s worst fears, for even though they try to be avoided, when they do occur they cause massive destruction, which can last up to years after the spill. Oil spills are usually causes of human fault, for example a, map that was not charted correctly, or more recently, an incorrect knowledge of the oceans tides. In addition, when tankers do crash, we unfortunately, recover around 15 percent of oil spilled in a large leak. The rest usually ends its journey on the coastline, where it potentially poses a huge threat to plants and animals that live there. Oil spills are very dangerous, and have been some of the most hazardous, polluting thing to a petroleum dependent civilization. They are a problem that we face today, because we need so much oil to live, it is in almost every product that we use today. So how in this environment do we still get what is necessary to live, but still allow all of the other animals in the sea to live as well. Moreover, if there is a spill how do we successfully clean it up? =

**In 1989, a ship called the Exxon ran aground in Prince William Sound Alaska. It spilled 38.2 million gallons of oil into the sea. Many sea animals were killed and harmed. The ship was off course by only a few hundred feet; however, it was enough to rip a large hole in the side of the ship quickly emptying almost all of its contents into the sea. Imagine an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The Exxon Valdez spilled about 125 Olympic-sized swimming pools. You also can think of it as 108 homes or 430 classrooms. 797 living rooms or 9 school gyms can explain about how much oil was spilled by the Exxon Valdez. It took many weeks to clean up; however only around thirty percent of the oil spilled was successfully cleaned up. This was because only after three days the oil had been blown into the rocky shores, by an unexpected storm. The oil normally travels slowly, however, there are many different factors that play in an oil spill, that will, or will not help an ecosystem survive. One factor is the type of oil, for if it is light oil than it will probably evaporate before it can do any harm to the sea animals or reach a coast, but if it is darker more toxic oils, they will travel slowly sinking and infecting the coasts and seas. Also the weather and time of year, because of the different tide patterns. In the case of Exxon Valdez the storm, really affected the cleanup crews, and the fact the Prince William Sound is only accessible by helicopter, and or boat. All of these things together made this spill an overall environmental disaster.**


 * Animals, are most affected by oil spills, they cannot survive in an environment that has so drastically changed. Seabirds are strongly affected by oil spills. Unfortunately, a seabird may be covered in the oil. The thick black oil is too heavy for the birds to fly, so they, not knowing any better will attempt to clean themselves. The bird then eats the oil to clean its feathers and poisons itself. Most of the time the bird will die. In this case, around found sea birds that are not dead because of oil, they will take the birds to a cleaning center or captivity where they are kept in a facility because they cannot live in the wild on their own. Animals that are in captivity because of an oil spill will be cleaned by professionals and volunteers. When a bird is in captivity, the oil will be flushed from its eyes, intestines, and feathers. The bird will be examined for any more injuries like broken bones, and it will take a medicine to prevent any more damage. This is an awful thing that we cause. However, we are trying desperately hard to change our ways, and prevent harmful chemicals from entering where they do not belong**


 * There are many ways to clean up oil; some of them are used more than others. When an oil spill occurs, many of the people that go out to help are untrained people that want to help. They use a technique that is one of the most simplest, but not as effective in a large quantity. This is simply picking up the oil, or attempting to scoop it into a bucket. This is used when the oil is already on the coastline. Another method is blasting the oil off of the rocks with high-pressurized hot water. This too is used once the oil has reached the coastline. One way that has proved to be relatively successful, is dropping a chemical onto the effected parts of the water, and lighting it on fire. This burns off lots of the oil, and was able to reduce the Valdez spill from 113,400 to 1,134 liters of removable oil. Right when the spill occurs, it is also possible collect it with booms, and then skim across it with skimmers, but this method was uneventful do to the thick oil. Overall oil spills do happen, and when they do, there should be a quick reaction, that saves lives.**