Gulf Oil Spill Research Paper

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On April 20, 2010, the Macondo wellhead BP pipe leaked crude oil and gas on the ocean floor into the Gulf of Mexico 42 miles off the Louisiana coast (Gulf Oil Spill). This oil spill is known as the largest spill in U.S. history. The pipe was located 5,000 feet underwater where there are temperatures just above freezing and extremely high pressures (Gulf Oil Spill). Oil spewed from this pipe non-stop for 87 days (Gulf Oil Spill). About twenty percent of it ended up on the ocean floor or on the surface (Gulf Oil Spill). Since it’s hydrophobic, the oil on the surface spreads out and forms slicks. These slicks greatly affect ecosystems and animals. The oil that didn’t end up on the floor or surface hovered in the middle of the ocean, forming layers of oil (Gulf Oil Spill). All 200 million gallons of crude oil mixed throughout the ocean and affected coastal and deep-sea sediments (Gulf Oil Spill). Although the pipe was capped on July 15, 2010 (Gulf Oil Spill), much of the oil still remains on the Gulf floor today. …show more content…

This incident had a great negative impact on our society, but that doesn’t mean crude oil is bad. It is used in many ways in our everyday lives and it is one of the most important natural resources used in industrialized nations (Oil Can Do More). It is mostly used in petroleum products as energy and fuel for heat and transportation, such as cars or airplanes. It is also used to make products such as plastics, detergents, paints and medicines (Oil Can Do More). It consists mostly of hydrocarbons, but there are many other substances in it such as benzene, chromium, iron, mercury, nickel, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, toluene, and xylene (Tox Town - Crude Oil - Toxic chemicals and environmental health

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