Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

For my science fair experiment/project i am determining: Which soluble best cleans oil off bird feathers?
Though i don't know which solubles to test to clean the oil. I need at least 4. I am for sure doing dish washing liquid. What else should i test?

Hi,

Have you thought about testing the dish washing liquid against other types of cleaning solutions such as hand soaps, detergents, or shampoo?

Now im deciding to do different dish washing liquid companies. Which company do you think/know works the best?

Dawn dishwashing soap seems to be used the most to clean off animals affected by oil spills. According to the links below, it is strong enough to clean off the oil effectively, but not harsh enough to harm their feathers or skin.

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/guest_blogg ... spill.html

http://news.discovery.com/animals/dawn- ... imals.html

You don't only have to test soaps. You could try water as a control, different juices, and soaps. This would make your experiment more diverse and make the outcome be applicable to a greater category of products.

Hi,

Ivyh and Megara 7 have given you some excellent advice for starting this project. There is also an abbreviated version of a project idea on this topic on the Science Buddies website, which includes a couple of references that should be helpful.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p032.shtml

Best regards,


Donna Hardy