When Opposites Refuse to Attract: Oil, Water, and Polarity

When Opposites Refuse to Attract: Oil, Water, and Polarity

Crude oil comes from ancient plants and animals and is found beneath the ocean floor. After it is drilled and pumped out, it is transported to refineries, where it is turned into fuels like gasoline and products such as plastics, asphalt, soaps, and pharmaceuticals.

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What is Crude Oil?

Oil drilling in the ocean involves using specialized platforms (oil rigs) to drill into the seabed.

Multiple Choice

What is crude oil?

• A renewable energy source created by modern plants and animals.

• A natural resource formed from ancient plants and animals found beneath the ocean floor.

• A finished fuel product such as gasoline or diesel.

• A synthetic material made only in chemical laboratories.

Multiple Choice

What is a product of crude oil?

• Gasoline

• Oxygen

• Water

• Sand

​Thousands of oil spills occur in U.S. waters each year. Most of these spills are small. Large oil spills are major, dangerous disasters. These tend to happen when pipelines break, big oil tanker ships sink, or drilling operations go wrong. Consequences to ecosystems and economies can be felt for decades following a large oil spill.

Oil Spills

Juvenile Kemp's ridley sea turtle oiled in the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010.

Multiple Choice

Using the map, identify the largest oil spill in U.S. waters.

• Exxon Valdez- 1989

• Deepwater Horizon- 2010

• Keystone Pipeline- 2022

• Ixtoc 1- 1979

How do oil spills harm or kill ocean life? 

Fouling or oiling: Fouling or oiling occurs when oil physically harms a plant or animal. Oil can coat a bird’s wings and leave it unable to fly or strip away the insulating properties of a sea otter's fur putting it at risk of hypothermia. The degree of oiling often impacts the animal’s chances of survival.

Oil toxicity: Oil consists of many different toxic compounds. These toxic compounds can cause severe health problems like heart damage, stunted growth, immune system effects, and even death.

Open Ended

What is one effect an oil spill can have on animals?

Crude oil is made up of hydrocarbons

Hydrocarbons are long chains of only carbon and hydrogen atoms. Here are 3 compounds found in crude oil.

​​Methane

​​Propane

​​Cyclobutane

Open Ended

Examine the chemical structures of hydrocarbons on slide 9. Are they polar or nonpolar? Justify your response.

Open Ended

Examine the chemical structure of water. Is this compound polar or nonpolar? Justify your response.

Drag and Drop

Water and oil DO NOT mix. Based on your knowledge of polarity, you can say that substances with​

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polarities will mix and substances with​

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polarities will not mix.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

similar

different

References:

1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2025, February 25). Oil Spills. Www.noaa.gov; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts/oil-spills

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