Making Elephant Toothpaste

Making Elephant Toothpaste

On Wednesday afternoon LS1 and Room 5 did an experiment called ‘Elephant Toothpaste’. Two ladies from Edgewater College came and instructed us through the experiment. It was very exciting as we walked to the field. We saw a table with chemicals and a tall cylinder.The two ladies were wearing a large white coat and clear safety glasses. They both introduced themselves and started talking about our experiment. She talked about Chemical reactions, that can’t be reversed and Physical reactions that can be reversed. We had to find out whether the ‘Elephant Toothpaste’ would be reversible or non reversible. She called two volunteers Viva, and Troy. The lady put 100 milliliters of Hydrogen Peroxide in the cylinder. Then Viva put a large squirt of detergent in with the Hydrogen Peroxide. Then we all counted from 5 to 1 as Troy put one teaspoon of Potassium Iodide in the mixture. The colour changed into a dark orange. On the top was foam that raised slowly to the top and came out of the sides of the cylinder. It made a huge pile of foam surrounding the cylinder. We were all amazed as our eyes stared at the reaction. We discussed about if it was a chemical reaction or a physical reaction. We all agreed that it was a chemical reaction that couldn’t be reversed. We were going to try it again with a plastic bottle. The lady again asked for another two volunteers, Vance and Alice. Again, the lady poured the same measurement of Hydrogen Peroxide then Vance added the detergent. We counted down from 5 as Alice added the Potassium Iodide. The colour was a normal orange and the foam went out of the bottle faster than the cylinder. It shot out of the bottle then went back down making a pile of foam around the bottle. We were more amazed than doing the experiment in the cylinder. When we were sent back we all talked about the elephant toothpaste. We all had an entertaining time during the experiment.