Mr Science was amazing. He made elephant’s toothpaste and helped us make volcanoes with lava flowing out of them. I really enjoyed blowing bubbles and catching them on my woollen glove. I learned a lot and had fun with my friends.
Elephant’s Toothpaste Recipe
Materials
- 16 oz. empty plastic soda bottle (preferably with a narrow neck)
- 1/2 cup 20-volume hydrogen peroxide (20-volume is 6% solution, purchased from a beauty supply store)
- Squirt of Dawn dish detergent
- 3-4 drops of food coloring
- 1 teaspoon yeast dissolved in ~2 tablespoons very warm water
- Funnel
- Foil cake pan with 2-inch sides
- You need cake pan, plastic bottle, dertergent in small cup, food coloring, funnel, goggles and smock, 1/2 cup peroxide, dissolved yeast mixture.
- Stand up bottle in the center of the cake pan. Put funnel in opening. Add 3-4 drops of food coloring to the peroxide and pour the peroxide through the funnel into the bottle.
- Add the detergent to the peroxide in the bottle.
- Pour the yeast mixture into the bottle and quickly remove the funnel.
- Touch the bottle to feel any changes that take place.
The reaction creates foam that shoots up out of the bottle and pools in the pan. After a minute or so, it begins to come out in a moving stream that looks like toothpaste being squeezed our of a tube. You can play with the foam as it is just soap and water with oxygen bubbles. The bottle will feel warm to the touch as this is an exothermic reaction. The yeast is a catalyst which makes the peroxide molecule release the oxygen atom faster.