Elephant Toothpaste
Teacher’s Instructions
Teaching objectives:
• Students will observe several examples of chemical and physical reactions
• Students will carry out the decomposition reaction of hydrogen peroxide
• Students will describe and illustrate the changes of the hydrogen peroxide chemical reaction
Recommended Grades: K-5
Estimated Time: about an hour
Key concepts and terms:
Reaction: a transformation or change
Chemical Reaction: a process in which one substance is converted into a new substance with new properties
Physical Reaction: a process in which a substance changes in size, shape or color but does not change in composition.
Catalyst: A substance that alters the speed of a chemical reaction
Procedure:
1. Over all tables, drape trash can bags to try and prevent excess mess. At each student’s seat, place a cake pan or plastic bin, an empty soda bottle with its cap, a closed container with ½ cup hydrogen peroxide, a container with 1 tsp dry active
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Ask students to talk about what they see as it’s happening. What does the foam feel like? Is there anything left in the bottle?
12. Get students to participate in clean up activities, then have an assistant continue to clean up while you move students to new tables or to a sit-down area on the floor.
13. Time permitting, have students draw a sketch of the “Elephant Toothpaste.” Ask them what they thought happened. Do they think it was a chemical or a physical reaction? Hand out the Elephant Toothpaste recipes so they can try the experiment at home with their families.
Why it works:
Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizing agent. Over time, it is converted to water and oxygen in a decomposition reaction according to the following formula:
2 H2O2 --> 2 H2O + O2
However, this reaction goes very slowly. It is, however, favorable, and is exothermic: it releases some heat as it takes place. Reactions can speed up by adding heat, adding more reaction materials, or adding a catalyst. In the case
hydrogen peroxide, (H2O2), a colourless liquid usually produced as aqueous solutions of various strengths, used principally for bleaching cotton and other textiles and wood pulp, in the manufacture of other chemicals, as a rocket propellant, and for cosmetic and medicinal purposes. Solutions containing more than about 8 percent hydrogen peroxide are corrosive to the skin. [3]
There are properties both physical and chemical that can define hydrogen peroxide. In regards to the physical properties, hydrogen peroxide is mostly found in a liquid state however, it can also be in a solid and gas state. It has a density of 1.45 g/cm3. This means that hydrogen peroxide is slightly denser than water. It is a clear and colourless liquid. Also, hydrogen peroxide has a boiling point of 150.2°C which means that when hydrogen peroxide is in liquid form it takes 150.2°C for the liquid to turn into vapour. Hydrogen peroxide has a melting point of 0.43°C. This indicates that the solid form hydrogen peroxide will change into a liquid at the temperature of 0.43°C. It is a weak acid with an average pH level of 6.2. It is almost a neutral substance as it is close to a pH level of 7. It is soluble in water and when it breaks down, it does not form any toxic or harmful compounds. Hydrogen peroxide is a ...
These students seem to have either the neatest or the messiest desks or lockers in the school. The one with the messiest desk will need your help in frequent cleanups of the desk or locker so that he can find things. Simply remember that he is probably not making a conscious choice to be messy. He is most likely incapable of this organizational task without specific training. Attempt to train him in organizational skills using small, specific steps.
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), according to Bryce Fredrickson (1999-2014), has many useful properties due to its extra oxygen atom. Hydrogen peroxide consists of two hydrogen atoms and two oxygen atoms, whereas water (H2O) consists of two hydrogen atoms and only one oxygen atom (Balcony Garden Web, 2016). Hydrogen peroxide has many uses including cleaning, bleaching, and a few health benefits (Fredrickson, 1999-2014), however the main focus of this research project is on plant growth.
I feel that in order for students to prosper they must be comfortable with their learning environment. I plan to have an well-organized classroom with various bulletin boards highlighting current chapters of study, as well as announcements and assignments. I also believe that you must keep students both interested and involved to achieve successful learning. Desks in my classroom will be organized in one large “U” formation facing my desk in the front to create a feeling of unity and coherence. To further promote this goal I will assign a seating chart (possibly alphabetically) to aid in the diffusion of cliques and to avoid exclusion of these who may have the tendency to be isolated. Individual and group projects will be incorporated into my curriculum to provide students the opportunity to work both independently, as well as a team member.
Hydrogen peroxide is a liquid which contains hydrogen atoms as well as two oxygen atoms. The oxygen atoms are very strong oxidizing agents therefore in order to break this substrate down it must undergo oxidation. This can be done
this, and the. [ IMAGE] The graph shows that the concentration of hydrogen peroxide is increased, the more oxygen is given off. This is because there is more
• Phosphates are used as part of toothpaste formulas because they help the product to leave the teeth looking white and feeling clean.
Chemical Kinetics is the branch of chemistry that studies the speed at which a chemical reaction occur and the factor that influence this speed. What is meant by the speed of a reaction is the rate at which the concentrations of reactants and products change within a time period. Some reactions occur almost instantaneously, while others take days or years. Chemical kinetics understanding I used in the process of designing drugs, controlling pollution and the processing of food. Most of the time chemical kinetics is used to speed or to increase the rate of a reaction rather than to maximize the amount of product. The rate of a reaction is often expressed in terms of change in concentration (Δ [ ]) per unit of time (Δ t). We can measure the rate of a reaction by monitoring either the decrease in concentration (molarity) of the reactant or the increase in the product concentration.
Chemical kinetics is the study and examination of chemical reactions regarding re-arrangement of atoms, reaction rates, effect of various variables, and more. Chemical reaction rates, are the rates of change in amounts or concentrations of either products or reactants. Concentration of solutions, surface area, catalysts, temperature and the nature of reactants are all factors that can influence a rate of reaction. Increasing the concentration of a solution allows the rate of reaction to increase because highly concentrated solutions have more molecules and as a result the molecules collide faster. Surface area also affects a
One vital process in the human body observed in chemistry is the idea of chemical kinetics. Chemical kinetics is the study of the rate of reactions, or how fast reactions occur.1 Three factors that affect chemical kinetics are concentration, temperature, and catalysis. As the concentration of a substance increases, the rate of the reaction also increases.1 This relationship is valid because when more of a substance is added in a reaction, it increases the likelihood that the
I picked the science experiment elephant toothpaste this year, because it seems interesting and fun. It is also a way to test if the removal of oxygen in these experiments will actually work. I have four different experiments. Two out of the four experiments I am testing, is to see if there is a different reaction time and size between yeast and potassium permanganate and the percentage of the hydrogen peroxide. My third and fourth are tests of elephant toothpaste is to see if adding cornstarch has a color reaction to the potassium iodide to make it look like it is “glowing”, or if the yeast and fluorescent dye will make it look “glowing”. I think the elephant toothpaste that uses 50% hydrogen peroxide and potassium permanganate will have the
Hydrogen peroxide decomposes into water and oxygen upon heating or in the presence of numerous substances, particularly salts of such metals as iron, copper, manganese, nickel, or chromium. It combines with many compounds to form crystalline solids useful as mild oxidizing agents; the best-known of these is sodium perborate (NaBO2H2O23H2O or NaBO34H2O). With certain organic compounds, hydrogen peroxide reacts to form hydroperoxides or peroxides, several of which are used to initiate polymerization reactions. In most of its reactions, hydrogen peroxide oxidizes other substances, although it is itself oxidized by a few compounds, such as potassium perm...
When you mix baking soda and vinegar you get what’s called a chemical reaction. A chemical reaction is the process by which one or more substances change to produce one or more different substances (blue book). In this case, you would be mixing an acid and a base. The tw...
The rate of reaction is how quickly or slowly reactants in chemical reactants turn into products. A low reaction rate is when the reaction takes a long time to take place; hence, a reaction that occurs quickly has a high reaction rate. A rate refers to how slow or quick the product is produced. It is possible to control the rate of chemical reactions and speed up or slow down the rate of chemical reactions by altering three main factors which are temperature, concentration and the surface area. When the temperature of the reactants increases, the molecules vibrate at a more intense speed therefore colliding with each other more frequently and with increased energy resulting in a greater rate of reaction. Accordingly, as the temperature decreases the molecules will move slower, colliding less frequently and with decreased energy resulting in the rate of reaction decreasing. Concentration is how much solute is dissolved into a solution and is also a factor that affects the rate of reaction. When the concentration is greater this means there is an increased amount of reactant atoms and molecules resulting in a higher chance that collisions between molecules will occur. A higher collision rate means a higher reaction rate. Consequently at lower concentrations there are reduced chances of the molecules colliding resulting in a lower reaction rate. The measurement of how much an area of a solid is exposed is called the surface area. The quicker a reaction will occur the more finely divided the solid is. For example, a powdered solid will usually have a greater rate of reaction in comparison to a solid lump that contains the same mass for it has a lower surface area than the powdered solid.