Elephants Toothpaste - Kid Version
This is a kid-friendly version of the popular Elephant's Toothpaste
demonstration. A child with a great adult helper can safely do it on their own
and the results are wonderful.
Materials
•16 oz. empty plastic soda bottle (preferably with a narrow neck such as
those made by Coca-Cola)
•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
•Lab goggles
•Lab smock
Experiment
1. At each student's place: cake pan, plastic bottle, Dawn in small cup, food
coloring, funnel, goggles and smock, 1/2 cup peroxide, dissolved yeast
mixture.
2. 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. Show a water molecule diagram and a peroxide
molecule diagram, pointing to the extra oxygen that will be set free.
3. Add the Dawn detergent to the peroxide in the bottle.
4. Pour the yeast mixture into the bottle and quickly remove the funnel.
5. The students can touch the bottle to feel any changes that take place.
Observations
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. The students 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.
How does it work?
Talk about the addition of the yeast as a catalyst which makes the peroxide
molecule release the oxygen atom faster. The teacher who submitted this
experiment claims to have done this with hundreds of students from
kindergarten through fifth grade and some adults who all loved the
experiment. It is very easy and safe to do again at home using regular
hydrogen peroxide from the drugstore.
Experiment From Steve Spangler Science
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |