MOULTRIE — This week, six Colquitt County High School (CCHS) students will represent the region at the state science fair in Athens.

Laura Robinson, 15, sophomore, won first place in her division recently at Darton Regional Science Fair and was distinguished with awards from the Thronateeska Heritage Foundation, an Earth and Space Science Award and a U.S. Army Award for Outstanding Project.

Robinson, a diver since the age of 12, compared a diver’s consumption of air in salt and fresh spring waters. She conducted dives at 33 and 66 feet and timed how long it took for her and her father to use a certain amount of air in their tanks. Her calculations determined that more air is consumed diving in salt water.

Andrew Clark, 16, sophomore, took first place in his division with a motor oil volatility comparison. Clark heated five brands of synthetic oil, racing oil Amsoil, racing oil Redline, Mobil 1, Pennzoil Platinum and Wal-Mart brand SuperTech, in a deep fryer. He found that Amsoil was the least volatile, followed by Redline, Pennzoil, Mobil 1 and lastly SuperTech.

Clark, who has an interest in racing, won first place in seventh grade in state competition with a similar project comparing synthetic, synthetic blend and petroleum oils.

“Synthetics pretty much cleaned house, so I went back and picked all synthetics,” he said, adding even the synthetic SuperTech was less volatile than more expensive petroleum and blend products.

Erik Rentz, 16, sophomore, won first place in his division with a comparison of the effectiveness of three brands of detergents in powder and liquid forms. He was awarded a $300 savings bond for Best Overall Project from SASCO Chemical Group, Inc.

For his project, Rentz stained lengths of cloth with ketchup, mustard, chocolate and ink and then ran three samples of cloth for each detergent to see which lifted stains best.

“My final results were that Tide powder lifted stains the best with Tide liquid coming in second. So, Tide’s a pretty good detergent,” he said.

Rentz said he has his sights set on a pharmaceutical career.

Also advancing to state are second place winners Luke White and Ashley Jimenez.

White, 17, senior, was distinguished with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Special Award for his method of cleaning up oil spills. Using it as a source of carbon dioxide, he added Alka-Seltzer to a magnetorheological fluid, an iron and oil mixture that solidifies near a magnet.

“It pushed the oil to the outside,” he said, allowing him to then use a magnet to pick up the oily substance.

Hall said he believes that White’s is the first science fair project using CO2 as a cleaning agent for oil.

• Ashley Jimenez, 17, senior, was honored with the SASCO Chemical Group, Inc. Industrial Chemistry Award and The Darsey Family Foundation Excellence in Environmental Science Award.