This Teacher’s Guide contains three sections:

• Overview of site contents.
• Questions and activities to review key safety principles.
• Guidance and setup for experiments and activities.

I. SITE OVERVIEW

Here’s what each area contains:

• Natural Gas Basics
  What natural gas is, where it comes from, and how geologists find it. Includes an experiment about the rock formations that allow natural gas to collect underground. Plus an experiment in which students make biogas in bottles and hypothesize about the conditions most favorable to underground gas formation.
• The Travels of Natural Gas
  How natural gas flows from the well to the home and into natural gas appliances. Pipeline safety tips. Includes an activity to identify the parts of the natural gas distribution system.
• Using Gas Safely
  What is needed for natural gas to burn properly. Carbon monoxide poisoning and how to prevent it. Kitchen and heater safety. What to do if you smell natural gas. Includes an activity about natural gas appliance safety.
• Using Gas Efficiently
  How natural gas is used in the home. How gas meters track natural gas usage and how utilities bill people for the gas they use. Age-appropriate energy conservation tips. Includes an activity in which students identify the natural gas appliances in their homes, interview the adults who purchased them, and work with the class to tally results.
• Find the Hidden Dangers Game
  An interactive game to test students’ understanding about how to play it safe around natural gas indoors and outdoors. Within a busy home scene, students identify hazards involving natural gas appliances and equipment.
• Tell Me More About Natural Gas
  Additional information for students interested in other aspects of natural gas. Covers statistics on natural gas use and production worldwide, the history of natural gas use from Confucius’s time to the present day, natural gas vehicles, and careers in the natural gas industry.
• Home Safety Inspection
  A checklist students can use with a parent or other adult to identify and correct any natural gas hazards in their home.
• Safety Certificate
  A checklist of site locations students can use to map their progress, plus a natural gas safety pledge. We recommend students print the certificate before starting the site and have a parent or teacher sign it after they have visited the main areas.
• Links to Related Sites
  Hot links to related sites about natural gas exploration and distribution, conservation tips, natural gas vehicles, careers, and more.
• Glossary
  Definitions of natural gas-related words found on the site. Students may access these definitions by clicking on the words that appear highlighted on the site (usually their first reference within a section).

II. QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES TO REVIEW SAFETY PRINCIPLES

These questions and activities review the key safety principles from Natural Gas Safety World. Here are a few ideas for how to use them with your class:

• Use as discussion points for orally reviewing basic gas safety information with the whole group.
• Use as a pre- and post-test to assess student understanding of natural gas safety principles before and after visiting Natural Gas Safety World. (To use as a written test for older students, cut and paste the questions into your word processing program, delete the answers, and print one sheet for each student.)
• Put students into small groups and assign each group several questions; ask them to use the website to find the answers.
• After all students have completed all sections of the website, organize the class like a game show: “contestants” can continue to answer questions until they get one incorrect, at which point a new contestant takes their place.

Natural Gas Safety Questions

1. Name one way in which natural gas differs from gasoline. (Natural gas is a gas, while gasoline is a liquid.)

2. How does natural gas travel to get from the well to people’s homes? (It is pumped through underground pipes.)

3. What are some other facilities and equipment that are involved in getting natural gas to where it can be used by people? (Processing plants, compressor stations, storage tanks, utility companies, and gas meters.)

4. What three things are needed for a natural gas appliance to work properly? (Heat from a pilot light, the right amount of fuel, and the right amount of air.)

5. What will you notice about a gas appliance flame if the mixture of fuel and air is not right? (Instead of a steady, blue, and cone-shaped flame, you will see a yellow, large, and/or flickering flame.)

6. What should you do if you see a yellow flame on a gas appliance? (Ask an adult to have it checked by a qualified repairperson, as it may need a safety adjustment. The exception is decorative gas appliances such as fire logs, which are designed to have a yellow flame.)

7. How can you tell if a pilot light is not working? (You won’t see any flame, and you may smell a slight odor of natural gas.)

8. What does natural gas smell like? (In its natural state it has no odor. A chemical odorant called mercaptan is added so people will know when gas is leaking. The chemical makes natural gas smell like sulfur or rotten eggs.)

9. What is carbon monoxide? (A dangerous gas you can’t see or smell.)

10. Where does carbon monoxide (CO) come from? (It is produced when people use natural gas or other fuels such as gasoline, propane, fuel oil, and wood without enough oxygen. Common sources of CO include gasoline engines running in closed garages, fuel-burning space heaters or water heaters with improper venting, and blocked chimneys or vent pipes.)

11. What are the symptoms of CO poisoning? (The early effects of CO poisoning make you feel like you have the flu, but without the fever. If you have these symptoms only when you are indoors, you may have CO poisoning.)

12. What should you do if you think you have CO poisoning? (Get outside and call 911, your local fire department, or local emergency medical service from a nearby phone.)

13. How can you prevent CO poisoning? (Ask adults to keep all fuel-burning appliances in good order and to periodically check vents, flue pipes, and chimneys for corrosion, cracks, or blockages. Remind them to never run a vehicle or fuel-burning equipment in an enclosed space. Buy, install, and use a CO alarm according to the manufacturer’s instructions.)

14. Why is it important to call the local one-call utility locator service before starting any digging project? (They will mark the location of underground gas pipelines and other utilities so those digging do not damage them or cause a gas leak.)

15. In case of a gas leak, why should you not use matches, lighters, flashlights, or anything electrical? (Even a tiny spark from these things could ignite the gas.)

16. What can happen if a natural gas leak gets ignited? (A dangerous fire can result.)

17. If you smell a natural gas leak, what should you do? (Leave the building and use a familiar neighbor’s phone or a payphone to call your natural gas utility and report the leak.)

18. What could happen if you play with--or hang things from--the pipes that lead to natural gas appliances? (You could loosen the connections and cause a gas leak.)

19. Is it okay to turn on your natural gas oven and open the oven door to heat your home? (No, it could damage the oven.)

20. What is the safest size flame to use when cooking on a natural gas range? (A flame that is just high enough to cover the bottom of the pot. Bigger flames can waste energy and create a fire hazard.)

21. Why should you keep papers and toys away from your natural gas furnace, water heater, and space heater? (The heat from the equipment could cause them to catch fire.)

22. What could happen if you store flammable liquids near natural gas appliances? (The vapors could be ignited by pilot lights or appliance flames.)

23. Why should you never use a natural gas clothes dryer to dry rags soaked with flammable solvents? (The flame inside the dryer could ignite the vapors and cause a fire.)

III. GUIDANCE AND SETUP FOR EXPERIMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Basic Experiment: Rocks That Trap Gas

The basic experiment, Rock That Trap Gas, is designed for students in grades 3-5. It appears in the section “Natural Gas Basics.”

Materials:
Students will need the materials listed on the website:

• Sand
• Clay
• Two 8 oz. wide-necked glass jars or beakers
• 8 oz. of water in a measuring cup
• Magnifier

Objective:

Students will learn to recognize that sand is more porous than clay. They will draw parallels between these materials and the types of underground rock layers that allow natural gas to collect. They will understand that sand behaves like reservoir rock—it lets the water pass through it like the reservoir rock allows water to seep into it. And that clay behaves like cap rock—it stops the water like the cap rock stops the gas from dispersing.

Getting It Across:

• Have students read the information and follow the steps on the page.
• Make sure they understand the concept of porousness—that some materials are full of pores that are permeable by water and gas.

Questions and Answers:

1. Feel the sand and clay with your hands. How do they feel different from each other? Students should notice that the sand feels grainier than the clay.

2. Use your magnifier to examine the sand and clay. What differences do you see? With the magnifier, students may be able to see spaces between grains of sand—a clue that the sand is more porous than the clay.

3. Fill one jar almost full to the top with sand and the other almost full with clay. Make sure students leave some space at the top of the jar.

4. Are the jars full? What do you think will happen if you add water to them? After students fill the jars they will both appear nearly full. Some students will know that the jars contain air as well as sand and clay, and that the water will displace some of the air between the sand grains when it is poured in, but will just sit on top of the clay.

5. Fill each jar to the top with water. Where does the water go?The water goes between the grains of sand. It sits on top of the clay and may go into spaces, if any, that are between chunks of clay.

Analysis:

In order for natural gas to accumulate underground, there needs to be porous rock for the gas to seep into (called reservoir rock), and a layer of very dense rock (called cap rock) above the reservoir rock to keep the gas from leaking to the surface. Which of your jars behaves like reservoir rock? Which behaves like cap rock? The jar with sand behaves like reservoir rock. The jar with clay behaves like cap rock. However, while the water in this experiment flows down through the sand, in a gas trap the gas rises upward through the reservoir rock until it is stopped by the cap rock.

Advanced Experiment: Making Methane

The advanced experiment, Making Methane, is for students in grades 6-7. It appears in the section “Natural Gas Basics.”

Materials:
Students will need the materials listed on the website:

• 6 identical small-necked bottles (plastic water or soda bottles work well)
• 6 large party balloons, not inflated
• 1½ cups of soil
• 2 cups of a mixture of vegetable scraps and grass clippings
• Duct tape
• Funnel
• Measuring cup
• Permanent marker

Objective:

Students will understand that both natural gas and the biogas formed in the experiment come from the decomposition of dead plants and other organic matter, and that in both situations, heat is a key factor that enables the gas to form.

Getting It Across:

• Make sure students thoroughly mix the soil and vegetable scraps. There will be some material left over after students put ½ cup into each bottle.
• It’s very important that the balloon be securely sealed to the mouth of the bottle. Remind students to check for tears or holes around the neck of the balloon.

Questions and Answers:

1. What was the relationship between the levels of the mixtures and what happened to the balloons? The balloons that inflated with gas should have gotten bigger as the level of the mixture in their bottles got lower. Ask students to share their results. Were the results the same? If not, why not? Answers will vary. Be sure the experimental setup was not at fault.

2. In which locations did the balloons grow biggest, and why? In which locations did the balloons grow the least, and why? The locations where the balloons grew biggest should have been those with the most heat: i.e., in sunlight, near a heat source. The balloons should have grown the least in the colder areas: i.e., in the refrigerator and freezer. Again, ask students to share their results and to determine whether their experiment setup could account for any extreme differences in findings.

3. Compare your experiment’s results and the conditions that allowed for the formation of natural gas deposits millions of years ago. The conditions that allowed natural gas to form included organic matter decomposing in hot conditions, and a rock configuration that allowed the gas to accumulate rather than to disperse. (i.e., a gas trap with a porous reservoir rock to hold the gas and a nonporous cap rock above to keep it from dispersing.)

Activity: Natural Gas Distribution System

This activity appears in the section “The Travels of Natural Gas.” Have students read the Get Small page in this section before printing this page and attempting this activity. Students should label the parts of the gas distribution system as follows:

1. Well
2. Processing Plant
3. Transmission Pipes
4. Compressor Station
5. Storage Tank
6. Utility
7. Distribution Main
8. Service Line
9. Gas Meter
10. Appliance

Activity: Become an Appliance Safety Expert

This activity appears in the section “Using Gas Safely.” If students can’t find an appliance manual and wish instead to use the website to list ways to be safe around a specific gas appliance, encourage them to refer to the sections “Using Gas Safely” and “Safety Inspection” for ideas.