How Do We Clean Up Oil Spills?
When oil is spilled into the ocean, it has some devastating effects on the ecosystem. How do we clean it up? Where Does Our Oil Come From?
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Oil spills suck. Some of them gush millions of barrels worth of oil into the ocean. How do you even clean up a mess like that? Hey guys, Julia here for DNews On April 20th 2010 an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, spewing thousands of barrels of oil into the coastal waters a day. The pipe was finally capped 87 days later. 5 years later, 2-16 percent, or possibly more, of the oil still lays on the ocean floor. Scientists are still assessing the damage to ecosystems and the people who live there. So how do spills like that get cleaned up? What happens to the all that oil? The first step, contain the spill. Oil is insoluble so it doesn’t mix with water. Instead it floats on top in a layer just a few centimeters thick. Temporary floating barriers called booms corral the oil. Above the surface the barriers ...
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Oil spills suck. Some of them gush millions of barrels worth of oil into the ocean. How do you even clean up a mess like that? Hey guys, Julia here for DNews On April 20th 2010 an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, spewing thousands of barrels of oil into the coastal waters a day. The pipe was finally capped 87 days later. 5 years later, 2-16 percent, or possibly more, of the oil still lays on the ocean floor. Scientists are still assessing the damage to ecosystems and the people who live there. So how do spills like that get cleaned up? What happens to the all that oil? The first step, contain the spill. Oil is insoluble so it doesn’t mix with water. Instead it floats on top in a layer just a few centimeters thick. Temporary floating barriers called booms corral the oil. Above the surface the barriers ...
