Experiment - Elephant's Toothpaste

Today we observed Miss Oldridge making Elephant's Toothpaste. We then had to write down the procedure and learn about why it reacted that way.

1. Carefully pour the hydrogen peroxide into the plastic bottle using a funnel.

2. Add food colouring (approx. 8 drops) into the bottle.

3. Add liquid dish washing soap (approx 1-2 tablespoons) into the bottle and mix it around.

4. In a separate cup, mix warm water and dry yeast thoroughly for about 30 seconds.

5. Pour the mixture into the bottle and record your observations.

How the chemical reaction works

The chemicals created foam! Foam is awesome! The foam you made is special because each tiny foam bubble is filled with oxygen. The yeast acted as a helper, to remove the oxygen from the hydrogen peroxide. Since it did this very fast, it created lots and lots of bubbles.

Did you notice the bottle got warm. Your experiment created a reaction called an Exothermic Reaction – that means it not only created foam, it created heat!

The foam produced is just water, soap, and oxygen so you can clean it up with a sponge and pour any extra liquid left in the bottle down the drain.

This experiment is called “Elephant’s Toothpaste” because it looks like toothpaste coming out of a tube, but don’t get the foam in your mouth!