I still remember the nervous excitement of our first Chemistry on Wheels school visit. We had spent weeks planning, testing experiments, and making sure everything was just right. But as we walked into the classroom, nothing could have prepared us for the energy in the room rows of students, eyes wide with curiosity, waiting to see what we had in store.
I still remember the buzz of excitement as we set up for the elephant toothpaste experiment. The classroom was packed, students squeezed onto wooden benches, some standing at the back, all craning their necks to see. The beaker sat in the center, hydrogen peroxide ready, the catalyst measured out perfectly. We had done this experiment countless times in practice, but this was different. The energy in the room, the anticipation it was electric.
Elephant toothpaste is a fun and exciting chemistry experiment that produces a massive foamy eruption. This reaction demonstrates the rapid decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen, accelerated by a catalyst. In this guide, we will use potassium iodide (KI) as the catalyst along with soap oil solution to trap the oxygen and create a dramatic foam explosion.
