What does the elephant toothpaste experiment teach?
Inspire scientific inquiry and discovery with the Elephant Toothpaste Activity. This sensory science experiment is a safe and fun way for teachers to introduce children four years and up to chemical and physical science within small group settings.
How do you make elephant toothpaste in the classroom?
Make Elephant Toothpaste 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.
What is the hypothesis for elephant toothpaste?
Here, our hypothesis is about hydrogen peroxide. So the experiment needs to change the proportion of hydrogen peroxide in the elephant toothpaste. An experiment also needs a control — a part of the experiment where nothing changes. The control could be no hydrogen peroxide (and no foam).
How do you do the elephant toothpaste experiment?
At-Home Science Experiments: Elephant’s Toothpaste
- A clean 16-oz plastic soda bottle.
- 1/2 cup 20-volume hydrogen peroxide liquid (20-volume is a 6% solution; you can get this from a beauty supply store or hair salon)
- 1 Tablespoon (one packet) of dry yeast.
- 3 Tablespoons of warm water.
- Liquid dishwashing soap.
- Food coloring.
What are the variables in elephant toothpaste?
Controlled Variables: Variables that will remain the same is the amount of hydrogen peroxide, the size of the bottles used and the amount of catalyst used.
Why is it called elephant toothpaste?
Elephant Toothpaste. This demonstrations is called Elephant’s Toothpaste because the chemical reaction produces a large foamy mess that looks like toothpaste squirting out of a tube. It is so big that only an elephant could use toothpaste this large.
What is the problem in elephant toothpaste?
The reaction produces oxygen gas, water and iodine. That is why the foam has a yellow color. If you were to touch this foam, your hand would be stained yellow just as if you put iodine on your skin.
Why does elephant toothpaste react?
Hydrogen peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water. As a small amount of hydrogen peroxide generates a large volume of oxygen, the oxygen quickly pushes out of the container. The soapy water traps the oxygen, creating bubbles, and turns into foam.
What is the purpose of yeast in elephant toothpaste?
The yeast contains an enzyme called Catalase that breaks down hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into oxygen gas and water. The oxygen gas gets trapped by the soap, and you get a large foamy solution that squirts out of the top of the bottle!
How to make elephant toothpaste experiment?
Step One Have students put on their goggles and gloves.
How to make elephant toothpaste with kids?
Make Elephant Toothpaste. 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. In a separate container, mix a packet of active
How to make elephant toothpaste with potassium iodide?
Elephant’s Toothpaste. 30% hydrogen peroxide is added to a glass cylinder containing a concentrated aqueous mixture of potassium iodide and dishwashing soap. The iodide ion catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, generating oxygen gas which causes the soap to foam up and shoot up out of the cylinder.
What are facts about elephant toothpaste?
– a catalyst can make a reaction occur, and the reaction can be rapid and quite showy. – potassium iodide, manganese dioxide and potassium sulfate are catalysts for hydrogen peroxide – there’s a lot of oxygen hiding in hydrogen peroxide, enough to really make things move – when soap has lots of oxygen released into it, it turns into soapy foam