This experiment is probably best for middle school aged children and up since it requires a number of different steps and has a long list of questions for the students to discuss and answer after the experiment. The experiment uses vegetable oil as a stand-in for crude oil, requires blue food coloring to aid in the observation process, cocoa powder, water, a glass baking dish and various absorbent substances like paper towels, cotton balls, pot scrubbers, Styrofoam and peat moss. The experiment creates a realistic oil spill in the glass dish and then has the students' test which of the absorbents clean up the largest concentration of oil. Feathers are used to aid in understanding the effects of oil on birds as well. Have the students take photographs of every step of the experiment.
Oil spills have a devastating effect on ocean life and an experiment that gives your students hands on experience will help in their understanding. The experimenters need a large glass or plastic jar, distilled water, food coloring (blue best creates the idea of sea water), cooking oil and some rubber bath toys like a duck or whale -- have them use toys made from other substances to expand the experiment. Add the food coloring, rubber toys and oil to the jar. Leave the toys in the oil-suffused water for many hours for maximum effect. Have the students photograph the experiment and take notes as they go for discussion afterwards. To add more to the experiment, add some underwater objects and swirl the jar periodically to simulate waves. This project is suitable for any age group.
Your students may ask you questions about how oil tankers spill their oil and how workers clean up such spills. An appropriate science fair experiment for children of any age is to build an oil tanker, cause it to leak and show how the spill is cleaned up. The simplest experiment requires an aluminum foil tanker, baking dish of water, cooking oil and some absorbent substances for the cleanup. Have the students tip over the aluminum boat filled with oil, or poke a series of larger and larger holes in the boat to simulate different amounts of spillage. To make the experiment more difficult for older students, have them build a wooden or plastic boat and put it into a large bathtub. The students should record their observations in a notebook and take photos of the entire process.
One of the biggest problems with oil spills is how to effectively clean them up. Many companies use various chemicals, but those chemicals may cause more harm to the environment than help. This experiment uses natural products, like human hair, in a comparison experiment with polypropylene. It requires four holding tubs of water, motor oil, polypropylene pads, lama fleece, sawdust and some beakers. Create different oil spill situations in the tubs and beakers. Use the various absorbent substances to see which of them cleans up the motor oil the best. The experiment has a number of complicated steps and requires detailed observation and the use of beakers and more advanced comparative skills, so is a better science fair experiment for older children.