Thia truly does help. We always done this in class almost all the time for fun and then I personally don't understand how. Now I do. Thanks for this video, sir.
Thank you for the feedback. I'm so glad you found it helpful! That's exactly why I make the videos, and it's nice to know you were able to learn something new!
Thank you. Glad to hear the video helped! Appreciate the feedback and good luck on your science experiment. I've always loved elephant toothpaste and hope you have fun doing it.
Hi there! I loved your experiment. I oops and bought 2 -5000ml flask. Can I use the same formula as the 4000 ml flask. i would like to do it for a kids fair next week. i have the potassium iodine, the 30 % lab grade hydrogen peroxide and dish soap. I have been searching for the ratios for weeks and your video has been the best.
Would increasing the hydrogen peroxide percentage makeup on making a bigger reaction, Also the erlemmeyer flask you used, is there an easy way to buy one? Ur video is very informational and useful. ;)
Hi Aaron, Thank you for enjoying the video! The concentration (percentage) of hydrogen peroxide makes a difference (I used 200 mL of 30% hydrogen peroxide) but increasing the volume used in the demonstration doesn't make as big of a difference as one might think. Actually, the secret lies the catalyst - the potassium iodide solution. You need to make sure it is a saturated solution which is 1.4 g/mL. I mix 98 grams of potassium iodide with 70 mL of water. If you increase or descrease that it will definitely change the speed of the reaction. Note, depending on the size flask you use, there is a sweet sopt to getting that nice stream of elephant tootphaste out of the flask opening. If the reaction is too powerful, it kind of sprays like confetti all over the place... and not powerful enough, it just kind of oozes out slowly. I played around with it quite a bit until I got it right. Addionally, the 4000 mL erlenmeyer flasks I use are purchased from Flinn Scientific. They aren't exactly cheap so fair warning. Good luck and thanks for watching and/or subscribing!
Great question Nancy. 30% is the hydrogen peroxide I used (I think about 200 mL).The catalyst that I added was a potassium iodide solution. You need to make sure it is a saturated solution which is 1.4 g/mL. I mix 98 grams of potassium iodide with 70 mL of water.
The yeast acts like a catalyst to speed up the hydrogen peroxide reacting. It’s also perfectly safe so it’s why it is generally encouraged when trying the reaction at home.
30% hydrogen peroxide stings quite a bit (trust me) and the reaction itself momentarily becomes plenty hot enough to produce skin burns. Plus, the potassium iodide stains clothing and skin a yellowish orange color. I wouldn’t say I’m scared, but it’s wise to use caution with this demonstration. 👨🏻🔬
