Question

In an oil spill, why does the oil not miz with the sea water

Answer 1

I'm going to explain this in layman's terms:

Why does vegetable oil not mix with water?

Because the water basically pushes the oil out.

This is because the oil is non polar and the water is polar.

I guess opposites don't attract.

Answer 2

Water molecules are polar molecules: this means that one end of them (hydrogen parts) are partially positive and the other end (oxygen part) is partially negative.

However, oil molecules are nonpolar: this means that they don't have any charge. All nonpolar molecules are hydrophobic: they don't like water. Therefore, the oil from the oil spill does not want to dissolve into the water.