PRODUCT EXPLANATION | PROBLEM | CAUSES | CONSEQUENCES | SOLUTIONS | COMPETING PRODUCTS | BIBLIOGRAPHY | TERMINOLOGY | SURVEY | ROBOTICS HOME
| Our product, “The Royal Oil Cleanup” looks like a skimmer but it has different actions. Our product has four spokes that cling on to pantyhose filled with materials such as smashed coal, dirt and cotton balls. These materials will suck up the oil when dipped into the spill. The product is supposed to be hung over the side of a boat or raft. While dipped over a slick, our product rotates in a clockwise motion. It stops for a couple of seconds to refill the clip with a new absorbent with the materials that were discussed earlier. The oil spill is cleaned u before it gets on animals and effects them. |
| Even though oil spills may not make the evening news, oil spills are a real threat to the environment as well as the economy. The problem is sometimes the oil is spilled on purpose by just dumping the used oil in the sea. The workers dump the oil in the sea to dispose of it. Other times the oil is spilled by accident. Some of the problems for the water animals are oil getting into marine animal’s bodies. This affects specifically dolphins and whales and many other sea animals that have to come up for air. Oil creates a thick blanket on the water because it is lighter than water. The thick blanket prevents animals from coming up to the surface. Oil on water can cause some real damage. |
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As
you will learn in the paragraphs below, oil spills are caused by
machinery as well as humanity! For some atrocious reason,
captains have been known to show lack of care by ordering their
workers to dump contemporary or used oil into the sea to dispose
of it. Therefore, we can conclude that humans are partly at fault.
Unfortunately, the underground oil pipe of the ship or
supertanker can break down. This is most likely to happen while
the oil is being pumped from an underground well. Otherwise the
oil spills would be made from damage reasons or careless reasons
on the builders’ parts. Also, if workers aren’t
focused, there is a good chance that workers might make some kind
of a mistake while loading and unloading oil onto and off ships.
This could lead to a very serious oil spill!
Another action which produces an effect is when oil tankers and coral reefs or icebergs collide with each other with an impact producing holes in the oil storage compartment of a tanker. In practically no time at all, the oil will start gushing out. |
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After oil is spilled or released into the water, the oil begins to take its devastating toll on the environment and economy. Fish and other sea animals are the first to feel the effects of the oil. For fish, the oil gets into their bloodstream and clogs up their lungs and this either suffocates the fish or severely injures them. Mammals, including otters and whales, also feel the oil’s wrath. Marine mammals either freeze to death from the oil dampening their fur and releasing all their internal heat and killing them, or like fish, the oil gets into into the mammal’s bloodstream and clogs their lungs, suffocating them. The food chain is also effected because whenever a fish dies and a sea bird comes along and eats the oil contaminated fish, the oil gets into the the bird's body and the bird dies. Then another carnivore comes along and eats the dead, poisoned bird. This continues until a human eats an oil contaminated animal. Fishermen also feel the wrath left by an oil spill because whenever fish die from spills, they are uneatable and as far as scientists know, there is no way to clean them. Fishermen lose millions of dollars in revenue from oil spills every year. The tourist economy also feels the punch from oil spills. With all the oil being washed upon the beach, the beach will look like a dump. Therefore millions of dollars in revenue, just like fishing, will be lost. Oil spills effect everybody. |
| Oil can be burned in order to remove it from the water although these techniques have not been used or tested on real oil spills yet. To clean up oil spills there are products such as booms which are towed behind two boats. The boats go across the water and trap the oil, while at the same time, the booms suck up the oil with the three different layers. There are also some chemicals that can breakdown the oil. Some special vacuums suck up the oil spilled in the water from the hoses and puts the oil into storage tanks. Some times absorbent pads are used to soak the oil, and straw is used to collect and filter the oil. |
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The first competing product that our group found is a technique used during river and lake spills. This petroleum cleaning device has straw that will suck up the oil. The water will be released while the oil stays soaked up in the straw. The straw is attached to a net by a wooden pole. |
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1) boom- The long pole or beam of a crane of derrick from which the objects to be lifted are suspended. 2) bulkhead- Retaining wall on the waterfront. 3) ladle- A cup shaped spoon with a long handle for dipping or serving liquids .4) petroleum- An oily, thick liquid which develops naturally below the ground surface, used in products such as gasoline, fuel oil, and kerosene. 5) skimmer- A person or thing that removes a floating matter from the surface of a liquid, as a shallow ladle. 6) terminal- The station at the end of a shore. 7) refinery- A place where some crude material as petroleum is purified by removing unwanted substances. |
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Although our group didn’t receive any responses to our survey, we did receive an e-mail response from Susan Hahn of the American Petroleum Institute. Mrs. Hahn said that our group didn’t have the technology and know-how to clean up an oil spill. She also said that straw would not be helpful or useful in cleaning up oil spills and that a skimmer could not be lightweight. Our group concluded that we shouldn’t use straw in our product. Also our product should be sturdy, lightweight, and mobile. This information proved very helpful in the building of our product. |