Oil Related Experiments

To Try Yourself




DISTILLING EXPERIMENT (grades 1-4)
EQUIPMENT

  • 250ml of salt
  • 1L of water
  • tin foil
  • pot

flask
PROCEDURE

  1. Stir the salt into the water.
  2. Taste the solution.
  3. Place your mixture into a pot and boil it.
  4. Once the mixture is boiled, place the tin foil over top of pot to trap the steam.
  5. Taste the water that has condensed on the aluminum foil.
QUESTIONS

  1. Is there a difference in taste?
  2. Can you explain it?
  3. NOTE: This is a similar technique used by James Miller Williams to separate kerosene from crude oil.
    Do you think that kerosene would have as many impurities as crude oil?



GUSHER EXPERIMENT (grades 1-4)

EQUIPMENT

  • 2 unopened cans of pop
  • a measuring cup
 pop can
PROCEDURE

  1. Take one of the cans outside.
  2. Shake it!
  3. Holding it upright, immediately open the pop and allow it to fizz all over the ground.
  4. When the can has stopped fizzing, take it back inside.
  5. Measure the amount of pop left inside that can with the measuring cup.
  6. Record that amount.
  7. Empty the full can and measure that amount.
  8. Record that amount.
QUESTIONS

  1. What fraction is this of the amount that the can originally held??
    HINT : amount of the shaken can divided by the amount of the full can.
  2. Can you explain it?
  3. Does this experiment help to explain why the production of oil from Oil Springs' gushers might have stopped after a period of time?



THE ABSORBENCY OF ROCK (grades 5-8)

When you think of oil reservoirs, you may think of the giant reservoir that you are not allowed to drive motorboats in, or the giant reservoir that you are not allowed to swim in. You may think of a giant lake. That's not what it is. A reservoir occurs in a rock that looks on the surface like any other. This rock, which to you and me looks like a solid, has tiny little pore spaces and that's where the oil and gas pool. And it's out of rocks like this that we have to get the oil and gas that we use every day!

Rocks can hold liquid! To demonstrate this concept we will use water instead of oil for several reasons.
  • It's not as messy.
  • After the experiment, it's easy to let the rock dry so you can use it again.
  • There's a neat relationship between the weight of the water and it's volume : 1 gram = 1 cc = 1 ml


    • EQUIPMENT

    • a pourous rock (pumice is a good choice and can be found in the foot care department of many pharmacies)
    • a scale or balance that can weigh in units of one gram or less
    • a container of water that is large enough to hold the stone submerged in water
    		 rock
    PROCEDURE

    1. Weigh the dry rock and record your result on a printout of the form below or in your own notebook.
    2. Put the rock in water and leave it there for at least an hour.
    3. Take the rock out and shake off the excess water. Weigh it again and record your result.
    4. Weigh and record several more times, at one hour intervals.
    5. Leave the rock in water overnight. Weigh and record again.
    6. What do your results show?
    Student/Group
    Time Weight of Rock
    Day 1
    Dry weight of rock grams :
    Time grams :
    Time grams :
    Time grams :
    Time grams :
    Time grams :
    Day 2
    Time grams :


    DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

    1. The rock should increase in weight. It may take a day or more to reach its maximum. Is the final amount that the rock held a lot or very little?

      To determine the final amount that the rock held, take the final mass and subtract the initial mass of the rock.

    2. How much liquid can a rock hold? We can determine this by measuring the volume of the rock and comparing it to the volume of the water it can hold.

      We can measure the volume of the rock by using the displacement method. Just like Archimedes in his bathtub, we can determine an object's volume by measuring how much water is displaced when it is submerged. We measured the volume of our rock by filling a measuring cup to the 150 ml mark and submerging the stone. The water level rose to 175 ml, so then we know that the volume of the stone is 25 ml, or 25cc.

    3. If the stone was 25cc, and absorbed 3cc, we can calculate that the stone was able to hold water equivalent to 12% of it's volume. This can be calculated with the following formula

      Volume of Water Absorbed/Volume of rock * 100 = Percent
    4. Create a line graph to see how the water was absorbed into the rock. Use time as the x value and grams as the y (or changing) value.
    This experiment could be repeated with many different stones and with oil instead of water. Keep in mind that since oil is lighter than water, 1 gram of oil occupies more than 1cc of space. The exact amount depends on the kind of oil.




    CANDLE MAKING


    Before illuminating oil became a common household commodity, candles provided most of a household's lighting needs. Candle-making knowledge was a necessity. Step back in time and see what making candles was really like.

    SUPPLIES:

    • Dowels (to hang candles on for dripping)
    • Stands (to hang candles and dowel on after dipping)
    • Spools of Wick
    • Paraffin Wax
    • Red Candle Dye (oil based)
    • Stearic Acid (to harden the candles)
    • Crock Pot (with a board to set under the pot)
    • Tray (to pour hot wax into after dipping is finished)
    • Cup (to use to dip the wax from the crockpot)
    • Knife (to clean the dowels, stand and pot)
    PROCEDURE:

    1. Cut the wicking to lengths of 5 1/2"
    2. Tie two pieces of wicking to each dowel.
    3. Half-fill the crock pot with boiling water, and turn the pot to simmer.
      DO NOT ALLOW THE POT TO BOIL
    4. Break the wax into chunks and slowly add to the hot water until the pot is almost full.
    5. Add candle dye (approximately 2-3 squirts).
    6. Add 3 tablespoons of steric acid to the pot and stir.
    7. Keep a kettle of hot water ready to add to the pot as the wax is used.
    8. Dip candle wicks into wax repeatedly, until candle takes shape, approximately 30 dips.
    9. When candles are almost finished, cut the extra wax off the bottom, and dip one more time.
    10. Let candles hang on dowels overnight to harden.
    11. When hard, untie candles from dowels, and trim wicks to 1" in length. Trim wick to 1/2" before lighting.
    FINISHING:

    • Turn off the crock pot.
    • Dip the wax into the tray to cool.
    • Allow the pot to cool.
    • Drain the pot and scrape off the wax.
    QUESTIONS
    1. After making these candles, could you think of a few reasons why people would be interested in using kerosene, or illuminating oil, instead of candles?
    2. Imagine how many candles you would need in your home, if you did not have electricity. Do you think it would take a lot of time to make these candles? How would you like this to be your job?
    3. When you lit one of your candles, how long did it burn? Do you think that a lantern with kerosene would last longer? Why?
    [back to main]