What would be a cool demonstration on oil spills?

I'm doing a project on bioremediation, and I have to present at an expo in front of a large group of people. I wanted to start off with a visual demonstration of what oil spills can do and use that to work my way into speaking about ways to prevent them. Oh, and I want to sound very...Billy Mays enthusiastic, like a car salesman you just can't say no to. lol I only have 5 minutes to speak, so it must be brief.What would be a cool demonstration on oil spills?
I can't stand that blow-hard Billy Mays. I wouldn't purchase anything his name is associated with. To me, it's a sure-fire way to keep me from buying it. You see.....Billy Mays' name is synonymous with junk.





Hard to know exactly what you're getting at......you're a little vague so it's hard to know what kind of demo you're talking about....real...simulated.





See....to me, it's obvious. It's oil on water. Oils floats and spreads like ink on a shirt pocket, so what's the big deal.....yanno?





I usually avoid these kinds of 'demos' because like you said, you only have 5 minutes. What good can be done with something like this in 5 minutes? So it's usually just fluff and smoke and mirrors.





At least you are trying to get help, which is good, but as I said.....talks set up like this are inane and just fluff.





Unless you can pour red paint onto a blue covering to show how it spreads, and then try and simulate micro-organisms eating away at the oil I just don't have any ideas for you. Not trying to damage your confidence, or offer destructive criticism, but just giving you a mind-set from an educated person's scientific point of view.





Good luck with it.What would be a cool demonstration on oil spills?
Here is a demonstration: get some oil. Diesel oil, for example, will do. Mix it with water. You'll have to leave it for a few week, though. After a while you'll notice a whitish substance between the oil and the water. Those are bacterias that live in the water, feeding on the oil.





Oil is hydrocarbon, a natural product. It occurs in the nature and nature can take care of it.





In 1989, the Exxon Valdez accident prompted the US government to pass the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA90) and that's a good thing. Today, no tank ship can enter the US waters without a double hull to contain any spill in case of grounding.





But in 1989, the cleaning of the Alaskan shore did more damage to the fragile polar nature than if it was left alone. Bacterias would have absorbed it very fast. Sure, photos of sea birds covered with oil were difficult to accept. But an oil spill is nothing compared to the other chemicals ships are carrying worldwide.