top of page

What Is Oil Spill

Oil is an ancient fossil fuel

We can use oil to heat our homes, generate electricity, and power large sectors of our economy.

Sounds SO Good, Right?!

Costs of Using Oil

Image by ruedi häberli

Behind the convenient

Oil spills can be defined as the release of liquid raw/natural petroleum hydrocarbons into the environment, especially into the sea.

From: Encyclopedia of Toxicology (Third Edition), 2014

When oil accidentally spills into the ocean, it can cause big problems. Oil spills can harm sea creatures, ruin a day at the beach, and make seafood unsafe to eat. It takes sound science to clean up the oil, measure the impacts of pollution, and help the ocean recover.

How do Oil Spills Happen?

200.gif

Do oil spills happen just from oil drilling and transporting?

  • Oil container vessels breaking down or getting stranded. Though these incidents are most widely publicized, they only make up 2% of oil spills in the sea.

  • Oil drilling in the ocean. Especially serious oil spills can happen when the oil-stopping mechanism is broken, or the oil rig explodes. 

  • Fuel leakage from vehicles on the sea surface like motorboats, motor surfboards, etc. Furthermore, fuels used in oil drilling can also leak into the water.

  • Geological leaks under the sea.

Hands-on Activity

Lab Tutorial

Oil cleaning try and learn

Do you know that it is hard to clean up oil spills? Let's try and see whether you have a better idea or approach to get the work done.

What is Oil Spill: Education
bottom of page