Energy4me is joining in the celebration of Earth Science Week!

Author: Heather Stanford; Published: Oct 15, 2010; Category: Education outreach, Energy, Energy Conservation, Energy Education, Energy sources, Environment, Geology, Renewable energy, Science, Technology; Tags: Children, Earth, Earth science, Earth Science Week, Education, Energy, energy challenges, Energy Conservation, Environment, eWeek, Geology, Geothermal, Renewable, School, science, Student, Technology; Comments: Be the first

The theme of Earth Science week this year is “Exploring Energy” and is happening October 10-16. This event focuses on learning about energy sources and the impact they have on our lives.

Energy4me, an energy education program sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineers is joining in the fun! Energy4me provided an exciting learning activity called “Products from Petroleum” for the month of December in AIG’s “Energizing Education” calendar.

Energ4me’s activity “Products from Petroleum” is a great interactive lesson on products we use every day made from petroleum. The lesson demonstrates what some products are made from and the processes it goes through to create different products. After the demonstration, each student creates a list of their 10 most important products made from petroleum separating them by necessities and luxuries.

The lists are discussed with the rest of the class and the reasoning behind each choice. The lesson is followed up by discussion on what the 10 most important products should be and how life would change without those products made from petroleum. 

Energy4me provides many more interactive and fun classroom activities for all grade levels. The Energy4me kit and lesson plans are also free to download. The Energy4me kit includes hands-on experiments, ready-to-go classroom presentations, teaching aids, and speaker resources. All of these exciting classroom resources correspond with our “Oil and Natural Gas” book.

Energy4me’s educational materials all work together to make learning about energy memorable! Learn more about Energy4me!

Earth Science Week was started in 1998 and is hosted by the American Geological Institute (AGI) to create a public awareness program for the Earth Sciences. AIG encourages people everywhere to explore their natural environment and learn about the geosciences. Earth Science Week educates the public through information, activities, and resources. This event reaches more than 40 million people each year. Learn more about Earth Science Week!

Tiny and Mighty Origins of Oil

Author: Heather Stanford; Published: Aug 9, 2010; Category: Energy, Energy sources, Geology, Science; Tags: Energy, Geology, natural gas, oil, Petroleum, science; Comments: Comments Off

Did you know that what lived over a million years ago provides most of the energy we use today? We don’t mean dinosaurs!  These little critters were as tiny as the head of a pin.

It’s popular belief that oil comes from dinosaur fossils. Even beloved children’s author, Dr. Seuss, featured a peculiar dragon that resembled a dinosaur throughout a 15 year advertising campaign for Standard Oil in the late 1920s and 1930s perpetuating this belief.

Today, scientists are consistently finding that oil largely comes from one of the tiniest organism of life. While any kind of organic material can contribute in the making of oil, most of it was formed around millions of years ago in the Carboniferous period before the dinosaur era.

Millions of years ago, these one-celled microorganisms lived and thrived in warm ancient waters. They were so small that more than a million could be found in a single drop of seawater. Over time, they died and decomposed making what is called “black mud” that rested at the bottom of the sea bed.  Heavy sediments quickly settled over the black mud burying the organisms and preserving the organic richness.  Layer upon layer of sedimentary rock pressed them down deeper toward the core of the earth.  Through millions of years of increasing pressure, hot temperatures, and multiple chemical changes, the organisms transformed from black mud to inanimate crude or oil.

Today’s geologists use several indicators to locate were these ancient organisms might exist today. Understanding of ancient seas, sea beds where black mud laid, and the catalogue of ancient organisms commonly found in pockets of deep oil are all used as indicators in the search for oil. See the recent New York Times article “Tracing Oil Reserves to Their Tiny Origins” to learn more.