Reflection by Claire

l really enjoy in the group 4 project as this is my first time to visit in my own experience what's happening after the accident.Not only we hear from the news, but we can also experience it as a first person.

l actually understand why it will affect the nature (like salmon), also it makes me feel bad that i was one of those who were blaming when the highway closed down for one day.

At that moment, l think the efficiency in Canada is poor because highway is really important for all of the people in Victoria. How could they close it for a whole day!Compare to Hong Kong, Hong Kong's efficiency is way faster than here. The highway will never close down for more than 5 hours.

But when l actually in Goldstream Park, l really felt bad and sorry for everything has happened. Also, because of those factors l really interested how the curial oil influence the life so serious in the river, as l heard they said many salmon come all the way to the Goldstream Park during this special period. This accident may affect them for atleast four years. I wish the government can do something about it?

On the other hand, after looked at the reflections from Savannah and Katie, l really wish that we could visit Goldstream Park earlier, then the statement would be more accurate.

During the Lab, i really enjoy by doing the hexane test or Hp test, as l learn not only in the biological way, but also in the physical and chemical way. l feel like a professional scientist have different subject of professors surround me and all of us analysis the accident, we actually working like a team.Working together in the Science Centre, everyone is an integral part of the group as some of them good at different subject and we can hear some different suggest by them.

But we should test our example earlier, l think if some of the people do the hexane test earlier, they should obtain a better result.

For example, l study in Biology and l do the Hp test, l told them why the level of Hp may influence the animal a lot, whereas the student student study in chem like Savannah and Katie told me the purpose of hexane test, how is that run, how is it effect the animals. l actually learn so much during the group 4 project.

l really appreciated that effort of everyone, Roger and Brandon also help a lot as they took a lot of pictures and provide some advice for us, Savannah and Katie took the water(different place), soil, etc.Of cause everyone try their best to each and lead each other because this is also is of the aim of the IB, we have to be a leader.

Finally, l understand that working as a team always powerful than individual power, l learn that to be belief and responsible in the group because we are team. Everyone, has their weakness and stroghtness, we should learn from the mistakes that we made.

Katie's Reflection

I believe that the Group 4 project went well and the majority of us worked well as a team. I also believe that our project would have been more conclusive if we had visited Goldstream to collect sampless earlier. As a result of taking samples more than 3 weeks after the accident, our samples did not contain enough gasoline or diesil to make any conclusive results.

Our best work as a team was when at Goldstream, we worked together to collect samples; choosing the locations, and whether soil or water would be more useful. Also, the team recorded our visit with pictures that our now on our blog.

The project allowed me to learn more about the sciences I am not in (Chemistry and Biology), while taking part in the Hexane and pH tests I was able to enjoy different aspects of science that I usually do not experience.

We came across some difficulties along the way when trying to contact both Fisheries and Oceans as well as Columbia Fuels. We had left more than one phone message at both locations, as well as emails. I was very dissappointed that they did not get back to us, as their input would have been very useful in this investigation.

Overall, I believe this was a great experience for us. While not everthing went our way, whether it was teammates not pulling their load, tests that did not answer our questions, or companies not replying to our calls, we managed to come through with a finished product. And through the process, I believe we all learned something.

-Katie

Savannah's Reflection

I think the project went pretty well overall. We came up with a question to ask in regards to the gasoline spill in Goldstream and I believe most of us made our best attempt to answer the question. I think the results we obtained from the experiment we did quite accurately matched my predictions of what we would find, backed up with our research that will be addressed during our presentation of this project.

The Group 4 project not only contributed to my knowledge of chemistry and physics, but gave me some insight as to what I will be learning in biology next year or in university. I enjoyed working collaboratively with the biology students and made a good effort to overcome some of the challenges I usually face with group work and my own perfectionism.

Everyone did a good job of helping out and sticking together during our visit to Goldstream by either collecting samples, taking pictures, or making good suggestions about where our project should head when we got back to the school. I enjoyed having the biology and physics students in the chemistry lab with me and learning how to do a hexane extraction with the samples we used, which was actually something I had never attempted myself, but I believe it went well.

One particular thing that I wish we had done differently was to go to Goldstream to take our samples more close to the date that the spill had happened. I think we ended up going there almost a month after the spill. The sooner the better! Columbia Fuels claimed that there was not only 40,000 L of gasoline, but also 700 L of biodiesel, which they claim evaporates rapidly, possibly contributing to our inconclusive data. Another thing that would have affected our results was the fact that we checked on our samples pretty late, so the percentage of gasoline left from the hexane extraction is zero. It would be great if, next time, group members could put more effort into the project and make an attempt to ask questions in order to understand what’s going on.

As the scientists we talked to on site said, it is difficult to know exactly what the long term effects of this spill will have on the environment and, particularly, the life cycles of the salmon, as an gasoline spill in this particular environment is new and has never happened before, so an estimation of what will happen cannot be easily given. Even though our question was not directly answered, I believe that our hypotheses are as good as anyone else can speculate. I enjoyed working with my group of scientists investigating this current issue.

Savannah

Reflections

Please have your reflections written by Tuesday and posted on the blog! It will be good to see how you guys felt about the project and to hear about what went well, what you think didn't go so well, and your overall experience with the Group 4 project.

Hexane Testing

Sample 1 - from boom

Water and container 19.842 grams
Hexane, Sample, and container 19.515 grams
Container 16.628 grams

Water from boom 3.214 grams
Hexane and Sample 2.887 grams

Sample and container after evaporation 16.310 grams
Sample 2

Water and container 27.758 grams
Hexane, Sample, and container 18.724 grams
Container 16.628 grams

Water 11.13 grams
Hexane and Sample 2.096 grams

Sample and container after evaporation 15.391 grams


Sample 3 - (sample for pH testing)

Water and container 28.228 grams
Hexane, Sample, and container 19.413 grams
Container 16.628 grams


Water 11.600 grams
Hexane and Sample 2.785 grams

Sample and container after evaporation. 16.184 grams

This test proved inconclusive, as the results found were not accurate. I.e. The mass of "sample and container after evaporation" was less than the mass of the original "container".

explain why pH level effect the salmon more clearly

PH values betwwen 7 and 8 are optimal for supporting a diverse aquatic ecosystem. A PH range between 6.5 and 8.5 is generally suitable. if pH declines below 6.5 fewer salmon eggs hatch and aquatic insect levels drop.

found it in www.thurstoncd.com/files/Optimal%20WQ%20Standards.pdf

According to the data, we can recall the last pH test that result is 6, the actually not suitable for salmon. However, it will be more clear about why it will effect a lot!

The PH level of water of Goldstream Provincial Park

Those two PH test's water are come from Canada Goldstream Provincial Park, but different location.
The right is the come from the water near the road that mean probably affect by the crude oil, but precentage will fewer pollute than the other one.
Its indicate the PH level of 7.
The left is actually come from the lake which is completely influent by crude oil, the pollution of precentage is much more as indicate thePH level as 6.
However, the best PH level for the salmon is 8, now we can totally understand why this accident atleast influent the salmon for 4 year.

group 4 project pictures

Hexane Extraction Write Up

Hexane Extraction

Purpose: To determine the percentage of diesel fuel within the water sample from Goldstream Provincial Park.

Materials:

- Three water samples

- Hexane

- Separating Funnel

- Test tube (mL)

- Water from the tap

- Scale

Procedure:

Sample 1

1) Weigh the water sample in the test tube

2) Add 100 mL of water to the separating funnel.

3) Add 5 mL of hexane to the separating funnel.

4) Add water sample.

5) Shake the funnel so the liquids mix together.

6) Let the hexane and the fuel with the water sample bond together and give time to let them separate from the water.

7) Drain the water through the funnel into a glass beaker.

8) Put the hexane mixed with the fuel into its original test tube and weigh it.

9) Leave the cap off the test tube in order for the hexane to evaporate.

10) Check on the samples within two days.

11) Weigh what is left of the samples in order to get a percentage of the amount of fuel contained in the water.

Sample 2

Repeat the process outlined for sample 1.

Sample 3

Repeat the process outlined for sample 1.

Conclusion:

The results of this experiment were unsuccessful. Although all the right steps were carried out, the result of the amount of gasoline present after the hexane evaporated was actually a negative value, and, therefore, no percentage of gasoline was found in the water samples we used. One source of error encountered during this experiment was the fact that there was no way to determine when exactly the hexane would have evaporated in order for us to weigh the contents of the flasks before they evaporated as well. Another reason concluded from our value of 0% gasoline content is the fact that the truck had spilled 700L of gasoline and 300L of biodiesel, which was claimed to have evaporated immediately. The trip we took to Goldstream was at least three weeks after the spill had taken place, and therefore, most of what was spilled into the river was likely to have evaporated before we took our samples. Our experiment could lead us to the conclusion that the cleanup (use of booms in the river, etc.) before we arrived on site was actually going quite well. Although it is not easily estimated what the long term effects on the ecosystem will be, based on our results, one may conclude that the ecosystem is looking towards a quick recovery in some aspects.

We know what we want to do for biology now!

If anyone wants to help me with the experiment writeup please come and see me sometime :).
And always check on our samples when you are in the science centre to see how things are coming along and make sure that they don't evaporate to nothing.

Extraction

I am going to extract the fuel from the soil sample we collected with hexane, then get a percentage of how much of the fuel was still within the soil after the three (or so) weeks that have passed. If anyone would like to do this with me, and I would really appreciate it if you all do, though I know we all have very different schedules, please contact me or meet with me at school. Let's get this rolling guys, we need some data.

Thanks!

Possible Question

To what extent will the oil spill have long term effects on the ecosystem as a whole, and therefore effect the life cycles of the salmon in Goldstream National Park?

For this question we can do evaporation experiments with samples of water that we will collect today, we can try to find some small, dead fish and do experiments on them, but we would probably require some help, and we will definitely do some experiments on the soil. What do you guys think?

"Another critical environmental factor that directly influences the gas impact on water organisms is the concentration of dissolved oxygen. Numerous studies show that the oxygen deficit directly controls the rate of fish metabolism and decreases their resistance to many organic and inorganic poisons. This decrease sometimes depends more on the species characteristics and the rate of their gas metabolism rather than on the nature of the poison. From the physiological perspective, such a phenomenon is explained by the fact that the level of hemoglobin in fish blood and the rate of blood circulation through the gills increase under oxygen deficit. Clearly, such effects are of special interest when interpreting the data on fish response to natural gas in situations of significant change in the oxygen regime (e.g., during eutrophication of water bodies or seasonal and weather variations of the oxygen content)."

I wonder if we could test this.

Evaporation

This is from an article I found today.. "Gasoline is more toxic to wildlife than other types of oil, Knox said. The only positive is that being lighter, it evaporates quickly and breaks up. Crude oil is more persistent and difficult to cleanse from the environment"

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Gasoline+spill+likely+killed+thousands+Goldstream+River+salmon/4631777/story.html#ixzz1Ls9CBW8O

I think it would be interesting to find the evaporation rate of the oil, and thus estimate how long it will take to be completely evaporated from the water.
I'm sure I can do something like this in the lab.

Everyone Must Read This Article!

I found this article that is very informative, i.e less politics and more science!

http://www.offshore-environment.com/gasimpact.html

Biology

Apparently some guy who was doing the cleanup lifted up a rock and found a lot of oil underneath.
Insects generally live under the rocks, and are a primary food source for the salmon living there.
I thought that we could do an in-depth study of the life cycles of the salmon returning from the estuary, and try to understand how they will be affected by the spill.

Another question would be whether or not there are insects that actually eat the oil (yes they do exist) and how they are contributing to the clean up.

We could do some kind of test on a dead fish (oil levels), though it is hard to extract that kind of oil from a fish which is primarily fat. Another question would be: Do the fish die to secondary infection, or do they die immediately when exposed to the oil? We can call Fishers and Oceans Canada or just go on the website and ask some of these questions!

We could call the DFO.

With all of the information we gather, I think it is important to do an in depth study of the long term effects on the ecosystem, including plant life, insects, small fish, and the salmon.

Chemistry Option #2!!

Another great idea we came up with that involves experimentation is to get a few test tubes full of soil, take them back to the school, and extract the soil from the oil with hexane (C6H14). We could see how long it takes the oil to be extracted, yet I haven't really thought of where we could go from there. Ideas?

Chemistry Option

The oil that was spilled consists of C6-C8 hydrocarbons, that they claim will break up rapidly. Because the spill occurred in a river (running water), and because it breaks up fairly rapidly, or so they say, it is unlikely that they used a dispersant to break up the oil within the water, but we should find out!
We can all the CRD or the people who are in charge of the clean up.
As I was saying, we can as how long it will take the oil to settle below the surface of the water from a chemistry perspective (%).
The clean up group have been using booms to adsorb the oil, as you may have noticed while traveling from Victoria. These booms are usually made up of the starchy popcorn packaging stuff, which is a non- polar substance, and therefore does not bond with water, so it will only adsorb the oil. My idea is that we could make our own boom and see how much oil we can soak up over the short time we are there.

IDEAS

So, during Chemistry we brainstormed ideas for our project. They are as follows:
For physics, I think we are going to go with our initial idea of the mechanics of the truck. i.e Was the compartment that held the oil pressurized? How did it end up spilling the oil (angles, etc).

In order to find out about the mechanics of the truck, we can call Columbia Fuels at 250-391-3611 or email them at malahat@columbia fuels.com
We could have Mr. Bryant call them, but I think it would be much more effective if we did.

PHYSICS TYPE ARTICLE

http://www.tetracom.ca/transtalk/?p=2151

We should definitely address how much time it's going to take for the ecosystem to fully recover.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150164883598800

A CHANNEL NEWS REPORT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq6Rm8Q4_P4

MALAHAT RESPONSE TIMELINE

http://www.columbiafuels.com/PARKL-210.CF.Malahat.Response.pdf

Check this out, timeline of response including testing etc

Question

Okay guys, we need to create a question or at least a topic for the project. I know we want to do something about bio accumulation. That includes bio and definitely chemistry. How are we going to incorporate physics?