Deepwater Horizon Assignment
On April 20, 2010, an explosion aboard the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon led to the largest accidental oil spill in history. The spill has generated documentary films, fashion photography, poetry, and songs as well as discussions and articles addressing its ecological, economic, political and ethical aspects from multiple points of view.
Assignment
Read the National Geographic article from the October 2010 issue (Joel K. Bourne 2010) (PDF version here). While you are reading the article, keep in mind some of the following ideas related to quantitative literacy, which is the effective use of numbers, statistics and trends in writing:
- Number sense and estimation
- Measurements and rates
- Units and unit conversion
- Percentages, comparison and percent change
- Fractions and ratios
Briefly answer the following questions (about 1 sentence for each question – we don’t want a book!). Submit your responses to Moodle by midnight on Monday, Feb 3.
The following expressions were used instead of numbers:
- “an Exxon Valdez every four days” (paragraph 3)
- “near freezing” (paragraph 6)
- “a plume the size of Manhattan” (page 6, paragraph 1)
What numbers could have been used instead? Do the expressions make sense in terms of units? What might be the intention of the writer in using analogies instead of numbers?
Words representing numbers are also used to give an impression of size:
- “Less than one percent” (paragraph 4)
- “Tens of thousands” (paragraph 5)
- “Billions” (paragraph 6)
- “Decades” (paragraph 7)
- “Few” (paragraph 11)
What is being approximated by each of these words in the given context? What might be a reason for not giving a concrete quantity in each of these cases? Find five more examples of expressions used in place of specific numbers.
Throughout the article, numbers are used in different ways to measure all manner of quantities. Find examples of 20 specific quantities (include the units) describing measurements that are not ratios or rates and find 10 specific quantities (include units) that describe rates or ratios.
For example, in the correction at the end of the article, 3,000 metric tons of dispersant is a quantity describing the measurement of dispersant used to combat the Amoco Cadiz spill, and in the last paragraph of the article 20,000,000 barrels/day represents the rate at which Americans burn oil. (A barrel is approximately 42 gallons.)There are words used throughout the article that imply knowledge about quantities. For example, in paragraph 9, the last sentence states, “Deepwater wells tend to be highly productive.” The word highly implies that some measurement criteria exist for evaluating productivity and that productivity measurements can be compared so that the ranking of high or low can be applied. Essentially, these adjectives and the adverb highly rely on the existence of some quantitative comparison. Find 5 other examples where the language relies upon or implies the existence of quantities.
In paragraph 11 we can divide the number of blowouts between 1992 to 2006 by the number of wells drilled in the gulf during that time period. Convert this to a percentage. What does this percentage represent?
In paragraph 27, an estimate of 4.9 million barrels is given as the total oil released in the spill.
- Assume each barrel contains 42 gallons and compute how many gallons of oil this is. Why might the volume be given in barrels instead of gallons?
- How many gallons of oil fit in your car’s tank? [If you don’t have a car, what is your dream car? Use that for the problem.] How many tanks of gas does the oil spill represent?
- Assume that a household would use 1000 gallons of oil for a year of heat. How many houses could be heated during one year by the oil that was spilled?