Oil

 = __Oil__ = = = =media type="google" key="8157560573983231771&hl=en&fs=true" width="400" height="326" = = =     (5)   **What is oil?**

Oil is a mostly black-like substance that can be harmful and deadly. It is made of two thick fatty substances, Oleic acid and Linolenic acid. (11)
**How do we use oil and what does it do?** It is used in cars, trains, boats and as a lubricant to prevent many problems with mechanical objects, also in almost all engines and it is a main ingredient in gasoline.(1) It is often burned for energy. **Environmental problems with oil.** When this happens it releases dangerous fumes into the air. On the pH scale which ranges from 1-14, the numbers below 7 being acids and above being bases, oil is a strong acid. This means it is very dangerous to drink and can stop plants from growing. It can also rise water temperatures, lowering oxygen levels and suffocate fish. It also, when spilled on water like in the picture shown below, can cut off sunlight, preventing plants from growing, therefore, the plants aren't producing oxygen and once again, suffocating fish. On the topic of oil spills, a little oil in the ocean is normal, but a lot has consequnces. When there is a spill, action needs to be taken quick! It can cause many problems and can cause a fire on water. (WATER DOESN'T ALWAYS PUT OUT FIRES) It normally does but when the oil spills it stays on top of water, therefore, the water does nothing. Check out this link to another team 71 wiki! Chemical Spills

[[image:http://www.fws.gov/contaminants/images/CoscoBusan/RibbonsOilOutsideBay.jpg width="242" height="229"]] (3) [[image:Oil_Spill!_by_Berger.jpg width="231" height="232"]] (12)
**We found oil!** Oil is found within the earths crust. Recently, within the last 50 years or so, Massive amounts of oil was discovered in the crust in the Persian Gulf Region. (2) Over 40,000 oil deposits have been found on and off shore all over the world, many found in the middle east. These deposits are covered by oil drills, which form an oil field. In the middle east, where both the worlds largest and second largest oil fields are located, one in Saudi Arabia and another in Kuwait. (7)    (4)   **Oil running low?** Yes, we are using up oil much faster than it can be restored. However, oil companies are doing a lot on the subject, so hopefully, we don't have to worry. (see video) America's dependency on foreign imported oil has multiplied by about 5 times as much from 1950!(8) **Global problems!** Oil could be the cause of global warming! Nobody figured oil was directly killing polar bears because there hasn't been any oil spills in a very long time. Since oil is burned and the fumes are released into the air, the fumes mix with clouds, the precipitation from these clouds rains or more likely snows down right into bears habitat. This rain is a hot form of acid rain. It melts snow and ice, causing major flooding!(9) Other animals are effected by oil spills around the world. Sea birds have waterproofing on their skin and feathers. When there is an oil spill the petroleum strips off all the waterproofing oils. So, when the birds go diving underneath the surface they are exposed to the cool temperatures of the sea and most die of hypothermia. Another death sentence for sea birds is the fact that they "preen" or clean themselves. When they are covered with oil they ingest it and can die from eating the oil. Their food could also be covered in oil and while they eat their prey they're becoming the oil's.(10)

(3)http://www.fws.gov/contaminants/images/CoscoBusan/RibbonsOilOutsideBay.jpg Busan, Cuscan. __Ribbins of Oil Outside the Bay.__ November 8, 2008. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
(4)http://www.brainpop.com/science/energy/gasandoil/preview.weml Article Gas and Oil, from BrainPop.com, 1999-2009 (5) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8157560573983231771&hl=en video retrieved from (6)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum#Oil_spills Petroleum. January 8 2009. Wikipedia. January 8 2009. (7)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_depositsOil Spills. December 25 2008. Wikipedia. January 8 2009. (8)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Imported_Crude_Oil_as_a_Percent_of_US_Consumption_1950-2003.jpg (graph on imported oil) (9)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum#Global_warming Petroleum. January 8 2009. Wikipedia. January 8 2009. (10) Walker, Pam, and Elaine Wood. "oil, trash, and toxic marine pollution." //People and the Sea//, Life In the Sea. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. //Science Online//. Facts On File, Inc. (11) http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE40&SID=5&iPin= LSPS0005&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 16, 2008). (12) [|http://www.freewebs.com/matthewstolte/Oil_Spill!_by_Berger.jpg]