Oil Spills (61 Near Nature Experiments)

You will need:

1 Oil (vegetable oil and
2 corn oil)
3 Liquid soap
4 Feathers of any bird
5 Toothbrush
6 Water
7 A big bowl

All of us have heard about oil spills in the ocean and how dangerous and deadly they can be for the sea creatures. Try this experiment to learn first hand.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. To understand the experiment better, collect a few feathers and try this experiment with your friends.
2. Take your feather and first analyze it. What is its structure?
3. Next, soak the feather in a bowl of
   water. The feather should be able to repel water.
4. Next, take the same feather and soak it in oil.
5. Once you have soaked it in oil, remove it and sprinkle it with the droplets of water. What happens to the feather? Does it still repel water?
6. Take your oil soaked feather and try washing off the oil by using a toothbrush, water and some liquid soap to clean the feather.
7. Is it possible to clean the feather completely to its original condition?

RESULT

Birds’ feathers are extremely important in helping them maintain their body heat and keeping them dry. These feathers are hook-shaped and formed of small hair-like strands, thus repelling water. This design helps birds to keep dry even in the water. But, once oil touches the feathers, they clump together and lose their ability to repel water all together, endangering birds’ life. The oil spilt from large tankers is much worse and much tougher to remove than the vegetable oil we used in this experiment.