Environmental chemistry
OIL SPILL
Examine an oil spill and try to find out the best way to clean it up.
1. Fill approximately half of a big plastic vessel with water (= sea) and put some stones in it
(islands).
2. Use aluminum foil to make an oil tanker. Fill your tanker with colored oil.
3. Put feathers into water (=birds).
4. Turn over the tanker and see what happens. Blow towards the oil in the water (=wind).
5. Start cleaning up the oil spill mechanically: Border the oil with pieces of straw (=booms). Can
you get the oil off with a spoon?
6. Put some peat into the oil and try again.
7. Try to sink the oil with crushed chalk.
8. Try chemical cleaning: add some detergent in water. What happens?
Discuss:
- How is oil harmful for sea birds and mammals?
- How could you prevent oil spills?
Environmental chemistry
SOIL TESTING
Do an experiment with two soil samples: one from a backyard and one from an industrial area.
1. Mix three teaspoonfuls of soil with 100 ml of water in a beaker.
2. Mix the solution for 3 minutes.
3. Separate the soil and water by filtering.
4. Measure the pH value of both water samples with pH paper.
5. Take approximately 5 ml of filtered water and put it into a test tube. Add 2-4 ml of red cabbage
juice into the same test tube. What can you tell about the colour of the water? Do the same with
the other sample (remember to mark the samples so that you don't mix them up!).
6. Compare the results between samples from backyard and industrial area.
Environmental chemistry
A NEW ECOLABEL
Design and produce a new ecolabel. Think about what qualifications and standards the user of the
label must meet.
At the end of the lesson every group presents their label to other students.
Environmental chemistry
DIFFERENT ECOLABELS
Think which ecolabel is the best known in your own country and present it to your group
members. What does it take to get the label? Discuss the differences between the labels. Are
there differences in attitudes towards the labels in your group or in your cultures? Make a poster
about the main ideas that came up in your discussion. You will later present them to other groups.
How many of your group knows this ecolabel? Do you know details about how to get it?