Grade 10 Adventurers

Today, we saw an elephant toothpaste lab demo.
it was cool eh? :)

If you want, you could do a little version of the demo at home!
instead of using higher concentrated (30%) hydrogen peroxide and KI, you could get 3% hydrogen peroxide and yeast! :)

see below.

and we will be going over the chemical equation of the lab demo tommorrow!

• empty 20-oz plastic bottle (or other container)
• 3% hydrogen peroxide solution (available at nearly any store)
• packet of active yeast (from the grocery store)
• liquid dishwashing detergent (such as Dawn™)
• warm water
• food coloring (optional, but it looks nice)

Make Elephant Toothpaste

1. Pour 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide solution, 1/4 cup dishwashing soap, and a few drops of food coloring into the bottle. Swish the bottle around to mix the ingredients. Set the bottle in a sink or outdoors or some other place where you won't mind getting wet foam everywhere.
2. In a separate container, mix a packet of active yeast with a little warm water. Give the yeast about 5 minutes to activate before proceeding to the next step.
3. When you are ready to do the demo, pour the yeast mixture into the bottle.

How It Works Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is a reactive molecule that readily decomposes into water (H₂O) and oxygen:

2H₂O₂ → 2H₂O + O₂(g)

In this demonstration, yeast catalyzes the decomposition so that it proceeds much more rapidly than normal. The dishwashing detergent captures the oxygen that is released, making foam. Food coloring can color the film of the bubbles so that you get colored foam. In addition to being a nice example of a decomposition reaction and a catalyzed reaction, the elephant toothpaste demo is exothermic, so heat is produced