Elephants don’t need to brush their teeth. You might be thinking why we need an elephant toothpaste. Picture a huge foaming paste coming out of a bottle, just like you squeeze out toothpaste from a tube. Doesn’t that count as an elephant toothpaste? In this elephant toothpaste science fair project, we will learn how to amaze our friends and teachers with a few simple ingredients.
What we need
Hydrogen peroxide (3% concentration)
Liquid detergent / Liquid soap
Dry yeast
Warm water
Plastic bottle with a narrow mouth
Funnel
Small cup
Large tray (big enough so that the paste won’t spill over)
Food coloring (optional)
Safety goggles (this is a must as hydrogen peroxide can be irritating for your eyes)
Procedure
- Stand the plastic bottle in the tray. Place the funnel over the mouth of the bottle.
- Pour half a cup of hydrogen peroxide into the bottle through the funnel.
- Add a few drops of the liquid soap as well into the bottle.
- If we want our toothpaste to be colorful, we can add a few drops of food coloring too. This is optional. If we don’t add, we will get a plain white Colgate-like toothpaste.
- Mix dry yeast and warm water in the small cup. Stir well.
- Pour this mixture into the bottle through the funnel, and stand aside.
- Watch the paste frothing and pouring out of the bottle. Just like someone has squeezed a giant toothpaste tube, right?
Safety tip: Make sure to wear your safety glasses and lab aprons. Do not touch the paste. Though we call it toothpaste, it is not safe to touch the paste. Chemicals used can damage your clothing or skin.
Explanation
Now let us proceed to decode this elephant toothpaste science fair project. Hydrogen peroxide is made up of hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Its chemical formula is H2O2. Hydrogen peroxide disintegrates into its components, hydrogen and oxygen, when it is exposed to light. But this is a slow process, and is difficult for us to watch live.
By adding some catalysts, we can make this disintegration faster. This is what we are doing in this elephant toothpaste science fair project. When we add yeast, we are assisting hydrogen peroxide to disintegrate fast. Yeast contains an enzyme called catalase which helps in breaking down hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water. Catalase reacts differently in different temperatures. Adding warm water to yeast makes it easier for catalase to act on hydrogen peroxide molecules.
So we add yeast-warm water mixture to hydrogen peroxide. Chemical reactions happen inside the bottle, which produces oxygen. This oxygen rises up as bubbles. As we have added soap solution to the water, air bubbles cannot escape easily. This causes the foam we see as the toothpaste. If we add food color to the solution, we get a colorful toothpaste.
You can go through more fun-to-do projects and experiments.
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