Elephant Toothpaste (Creative Chemistry Experiments)

You will need:

1. Large empty plastic bottle
2. 3% hydrogen peroxide
   (available at any chemist)
3. 1 packet of active dry
   yeast
4. Food colour
5. 3 tablespoonfuls of warm
   water
6. Liquid soap

Almost each of us has tried squishing a toothpaste tube just to see all that toothpaste squirt out for fun. But imagine what it would look like if someone squished a giant tube of toothpaste meant for an elephant! Follow this experiment and find out.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pour ½ cup of hydrogen peroxide and ¼ cup of liquid soap into a plastic bottle.
2. Add a few drops of food colour to it and mix it all around.
3. In a separate cup, take a packet of dry yeast and dissolve it into 3 tablespoonfuls of warm water.
4. Wait for 10 minutes to activate the yeast before proceeding.
5. When you are ready to conduct the experiment, pour the yeast water into the hydrogen peroxide solution and stand back.

RESULT

Hydrogen peroxide can easily decompose into water and oxygen molecules. By adding yeast to the solution, you are speeding up the decomposition rate. And the soap in the solution traps the oxygen that is released making foam! The colour is just for a bit of fun.