Oil spills cleanup Procedure

within research activity, pupils will include ferrofluid to a combination of water and oil to make the oil magnetized, and then make use of a good magnet to remove the oil/ferrofluid mixture from the liquid.

For Discussion

This research activity can act as a kick off point for a variety of technology talks. Here are a few examples of questions that can be used to start a discussion:

• How come the ferromagnetic particles in ferrofluid need to be so tiny? Would iron filings be cheaper plus easily obtainable?
• What criteria could you use to evaluate if the method tested is a good candidate to be used to clean up oil spills in the ocean?
• Inside science activity, we perform cleanup treatments by adding ferrofluid towards the oil spill in petri meals. In addition, we perform some cleaning on a petri dish without incorporating any ferrofluid. Why would we do this? This is certainly called a "control, " but why would we want a "control"?
• This task uses an oil-based ferrofluid, but would a water-based ferrofluid strive to magnetize the oil within the oil spill as well?

Materials

Needed for preparing ahead:

• White poster board, butcher report, or any other product to safeguard each workshop (1 per demo or small group)
• Graduated cylinder, 50 mL (1)
• Plain tap water (adequate to fill each petri dish approximately half full)
• Liquid food color (about one drop per demo or little group)
• Cup (1 per demonstration or little group)
• Mineral oil (10 mL per demo or little group)

Needed for each demo or small group during the research task:

• Petri meals (3).
• Synthetic transfer pipettes (2).
• Ferrofluid (6 drops).
• Neodymium magnet (1). The system includes one magnet that can easily be passed around amongst the groups. As an alternative, extra magnets can be bought from Amazon.com
• Disposable gloves. The system comes with three sets of gloves; one per team.

You also need these items ready:

• Water with food coloring (adequate to fill the petri meals half-full)
• Cup with 10 mL mineral oil
• Timekeeper or time clock
• Synthetic sandwich bags (3)
• Paper towels or cloth, to clean up spills

Figure 2. you want only some class science materials and ferrofluid to do this enjoyable science task.

Prepare Ahead (< ten full minutes)

1. For each area for which you will perform a demonstration or a little team will continue to work, protect the task location, as spilled ferrofluid will stain surfaces. Working on a white poster board or butcher report is useful.
2. Per demonstration or little group, fill a graduated cylinder (or glass with a pouring spout) with tap water, adequate to fill all petri meals half-full. Color the water with 1 drop of meals coloring. You are going to make use of coloured liquid with this task to help make the clear mineral oil much more visible.
3. For every demo or little team, afin de about 10 mL of mineral oil in a cup.
4. Note: We declare that the solitary container with ferrofluid be shared between task groups. This really is a messy fluid that may evaporate whenever left open to the atmosphere, therefore it is maybe not recommended to put the substance in individual open bins.

Figure 3. This photo shows the prepared items as they will be presented toward student.

Technology Activity (10-20 minutes)

1. Each class demo or small team need a protected work area, three clean petri meals, two plastic transfer pipettes, a pair of disposable gloves (one for every single pupil that will handle materials), usage of the bottle of ferrofluid, a neodymium magnet, three synthetic sandwich bags, report towels or cloth to completely clean up spills, liquid with meals color, and a cup with 10 mL of mineral oil.
2. Check out the environment for security and inform pupils in regards to the hazards of using the services of ferrofluid and neodymium magnets:
   1. Ferrofluids can stain skin, surfaces, and clothes.
   2. Neodymium magnets tend to be strong magnets, and they should always be held away from computer systems or other magnetized product all of the time. Never ever ingest a magnet, don't let neodymium magnets slam together, and never stick fingers or any other parts of the body between two neodymium magnets.