Elephant Toothpaste

How elephant toothpaste works

The basic idea is this: first mix concentrated hydrogen peroxide with some liquid soap and a little bit of pink food coloring. Then add a catalyst to make the hydrogen peroxide break down really quickly {We used about 3 tbsp. of dry yeast mixed with warm water}. Hydrogen peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water. 

There's a lot of oxygen trapped in peroxide, so this rapid decomposition results in lots of oxygen that needs to quickly push out of the container. 

As the peroxide breaks down, the soap that was mixed in will also combine with the water {from the break down process}, and turn into foam. 

The oxygen gushing out is what makes the soap bubbles move. We added some food coloring before the catalyst, which makes the resulting column of foam that gushes out look even more like toothpaste. 

 

{ The girls had a great time with the experiment, and Taylor helped make the video! }

Until Next Time,