• Water
• Aluminum tray or pie plate
• Cooking oil dyed brown
• Cotton balls
• Dish detergent
• Paper towels
• Plastic wrap
• Sponge pieces
• Styrofoam
• Shredded paper
• Feathers - 2

1. Fill the aluminum tray 2/3 full with clean water.
2. Squirt some of the oil into the tray to make a tiny “oil slick”.
3. Try to clean up the spill with the cotton balls, sponge pieces, styrofoam, shredded paper, and paper towel. Which works best?
4. Once you are finished trying to clean up the spill, squirt a small amount of dish washing liquid into the centre of the tray and observe what happens.

• Dip one feather into the oil spill, then compare it to the non-oily feather. What is the difference? What could this mean for a bird that is caught in an oil spill?

• Discuss oil spills as environmental emergencies: how could oil spills harm plants and animals? How do oil spills happen? (ie. tankers, barges, pipelines, factories, storage areas).
• What can people do to help out with oil spills—even better, how can people prevent them?

The oil floats on the water because it is less dense. The cotton balls, sponges, and paper towels absorb the oil and are called "sorbents". But each type of material absorbs in differing amounts depending on the pore size, which varies depending on the brand names. Styrofoam does not soak up the oil.

Once you squirt the dish washing liquid into the centre of the tray, the soap breaks the surface tension (the attraction between molecules on the surface of a liquid) of the liquids, spreading out the water and oil molecules in the tray.

Oil spills are a type of pollution and can have very negative impacts on plants and animals. Birds (like ducks and penguins) use their own natural oils to keep them waterproof. A layer of air between the waterproof feathers and their skin is what keeps them warm. But the oil from an oil spill seeps into the air layer, making their feathers matted. Because the bird no longer has its layer of air, it can become very cold and die of hypothermia. Birds also try to clean the oil off their feathers, but can become poisoned or sick by digesting the oil.

The best way we can to take care of oil spills is to prevent them from happening! New tankers have introduced a double hull (the watertight body of a boat or ship) to prevent oil spills and leaks.