Elephant Toothpaste Experiment

A fun and easy experiment you can do at home with the kids.

Materials:

A clean soda bottle

1/2 cup 20-volume or 6% Hydrogen Peroxide Solution

1 Tbsp of Dry Yeast

3 Tbsp of warm water

Liquid Dish Washing Soap

Food Coloring

Small Cups

Funnel

Procedure:

1. Using a funnel, gently pour the Hydrogen Peroxide into the bottle.  It would be good to ask someone to hold the bottle while you pour in the Hydrogen Peroxide to prevent it from toppling over.

2.  Add a few drops of food coloring into the bottle.  Experiment with different colors to produce amazing effects.  You may also want to add glitters for a different effect.

3.  Put in about 1 Tbsp of Liquid Dish washing Soap into the bottle.  Give the bottle a few twirls to mix the contents. You may want to use different bottle size and observe if they produce a different effect.

4. In a small cup mix together the yeast and water for approximately 30 seconds or until the dry yeast dissolves in the water.

5. Pour in the solution into the bottle, stand back, and watch the foam rise.

6. Congratulations your done...

How does it work?

The foam is special made of tiny foam bubbles filled with oxygen. The yeast acted as a catalyst to remove the oxygen from the hydrogen peroxide. The experiment produced an Exothermic Reaction – which not only created foam but also heat.  The foam produced is a mixture of water, soap, and oxygen.

Now try varying the amount of hydrogen peroxide and dry yeast, and see what happens.