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Design Your Own Oil Pumpjack

3-5th Grade Science - Physics

Content Topics

  • How oil formed and how it is stored there by geographical features
  • How first-class levers work
  • How oil is extracted from the earth using an oil pumpjack

Duration Five - 55 minute periods

Objective: 

The objective is to learn about the discovery of oil, where it is located, and why. Then, they will learn about the extraction of oil from a reservoir and about how a first-class lever in an oil pumpjack can be used to pull oil out of the ground.

Overview and Purpose:

Oil is among the most important fossil fuels and has significantly shaped the way technologies have developed throughout human history. Not only has petroleum energy been used for energy for thousands of years, but it is also used to make many products including plastics. People first began using oil as they found it seeping to the surface, but they were unaware that it existed as vast reserves underneath them. Typically, oil reserves are stored in anticline geological formations, which are upward folds in the strata that trap natural gas and oil within impermeable layers. Oil forms from the remains of marine organisms that are broken down by bacteria into organic substances called kerogen and bitumen. Heat, pressure, and time underground eventually transform these materials into oil, which seeps into rocks and becomes trapped in the impermeable layers.

Guiding Questions: 

  • How was oil discovered in your county? 
  • Why does oil exist in your county?
  • How is oil extracted from the earth?

Education Standards:

  • HS-PS2-1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration. [Clarification Statement: Examples of data could include tables or graphs of position or velocity as a function of time for objects subject to a net unbalanced force, such as a falling object, an object rolling down a ramp, or a moving object being pulled by a constant force.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to one-dimensional motion and to macroscopic objects moving at non-relativistic speeds.]
  • HS-PS3-3. Design, build, and refine a device that works within given constraints to convert one form of energy into another form of energy.* [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on both qualitative and quantitative evaluations of devices. Examples of devices could include Rube Goldberg devices, wind turbines, solar cells, solar ovens, and generators. Examples of constraints could include use of renewable energy forms and efficiency.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment for quantitative evaluations is limited to total output for a given input. Assessment is limited to devices constructed with materials provided to students.]

Materials and Resources:

Local Resources:

Part 1 (55 Min)

Introduction/Hook:

Students will be introduced to the history of oil in the local region and when the industry started. 

Primary source/ artifact:

Students will look at a picture of the oil pumpjack model.

Presentation:

The teacher will explain that students will learn about the history of oil and how it impacted the local area. Then they will explore the geography of oil well formation and how it is extracted. Finally, students will learn about the physics of oil rigs.

Then, they will investigate how it is extracted, and how an oil rig works to pull oil out of a reservoir.

Part 2 (100 Min over two class periods)

Activity or discussion:

Students do some calculations of first-class levels, then build one and collect data, investigating the relationship between force and distance. Then, they will model an oil pumpjack and learn about how the counterweights and length on the pump are used to increase the force. Then, they will build a model of a pumpjack and measure the amount of force that the pumpjack pulls up.

Part 3 (20 Min):

Assessment (quiz/ kahoot/ etc.):

Students will label a diagram of an oil rig, showing the parts. They will answer questions throughout the activity about the content.