Melissa: 00:10

Hey. I'm Melissa.

Jam: 00:11

I'm Jam.

Melissa: 00:12

And I'm a chemist.

Jam: 00:13

And I'm not.

Melissa: 00:14

And welcome to chemistry for your life.

Jam: 00:16

The podcast helps you understand and do chemistry at home in your life once a month.

Melissa: 00:22

That's right. So This week is gonna be a little different. We used to just have you explain it to me because I didn't do the experiments with you.

Jam: 00:30

Right. Right.

Melissa: 00:31

But we are both vaccinated.

Jam: 00:32

Yes.

Melissa: 00:33

So the CDC says we're allowed to hang out

Jam: 00:35

Mhmm.

Melissa: 00:36

Without our masks on.

Jam: 00:37

Mhmm. And they said we're allowed to do chemistry experiments together too.

Melissa: 00:40

Definitely. They specifically said that to us. Yes. Thanks, CDC. That's not true.

Melissa: 00:44

CDC did not say that to us. Okay. So I'm still though gonna just have you explain what you did. Okay. And then we'll talk about the chemistry behind it and what questions you can ask your kids to get them in that scientific mindset.

Jam: 00:58

Nice. Okay. Yeah. This one was more fun because I wasn't trying to film it and do it and do that all on my own.

Melissa: 01:04

That's true.

Jam: 01:04

We got 2 together, which is cool. And having a real scientist present definitely makes me feel a lot less nervous. So

Melissa: 01:11

I was

Jam: 01:11

just trying to always follow Melissa's instructions in text form or whatever, and I was always so sure I was gonna mess a thing up. So

Melissa: 01:19

But you did great every time.

Jam: 01:20

And it yeah. It was it was definitely not the worst. Just a little more fun doing it together anyway.

Melissa: 01:25

So Oh, yeah. Definitely more fun.

Jam: 01:27

So what we did was Melissa had prepared some of these Ingredients? Mhmm. She put some hydrogen peroxide into an Erlenmeyer flask?

Melissa: 01:38

About half a cup.

Jam: 01:40

Half a cup. And she'd also put some Active was it fast acting yeast?

Melissa: 01:44

I think it's something dry yeast Yeah. But maybe fast acting. I'm not positive.

Jam: 01:49

In another little flask. And so the first thing I did was add a little bit of Dawn dish soap to the hydro peroxide, Enough to where it seemed like it was turning blue.

Melissa: 02:03

Mhmm.

Jam: 02:03

The color of the soap was blue, so I just did Squeezed some until it seemed like it was actually changing the color? Yeah. And then

Melissa: 02:13

It doesn't have to be exact. Just Probably more is better than less

Jam: 02:16

Okay.

Melissa: 02:17

For this experiment, but there's no specific measurement.

Jam: 02:19

Yeah. I was a little bit too ginger with it at first, though I guess that wasn't necessary. But Then also we added some warm water from the tap to the yeast.

Melissa: 02:30

So the ratio of that was 1 tablespoon of yeast, Three tablespoons of warm water.

Jam: 02:35

Okay.

Melissa: 02:35

Too hot, and it will hurt the yeast.

Jam: 02:38

Right. Right. So we did that, Swirled it around, let the yeast in the water mingle and start to activate or whatever it Mhmm. Happens there. And then I very quickly dumped the water, yeast combination Mhmm.

Jam: 02:55

Into the hydrogen peroxide and dish soap Mhmm. Induction. And then nothing happened.

Melissa: 03:02

That's not true.

Jam: 03:03

Just kidding. It started foaming like crazy. Mhmm. And just The foam came came out of the top of the flask and

Melissa: 03:10

Mhmm.

Jam: 03:11

Got everywhere, but we had prepared for that by putting those aluminum dishes down or whatever.

Melissa: 03:16

Yeah. This is a messy Experiment. You wanna do this outside or in a bathtub or somewhere that you can basically hose everything down afterwards.

Jam: 03:24

Yeah. And it was fast. Like, a lot of foam very quickly, and it was awesome.

Melissa: 03:30

That's right. Did you notice something else? I think you made a comment about the temperature?

Jam: 03:35

Yes. And now I felt the foam afterward, with your permission. It was very warm. The foam was, yeah, surprisingly warm.

Melissa: 03:43

That's right. So what happens here, this is really a famous reaction. It's called the elephant's toothpaste. Mhmm.

Jam: 03:49

You

Melissa: 03:49

may have seen it on demonstrations and stuff where it Shoots really high up into the air.

Jam: 03:54

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 03:54

That uses much stronger chemicals, more concentrated hydrogen peroxide, which isn't safe to keep at your house.

Jam: 04:02

Got

Melissa: 04:02

it. And, potassium iodide as a catalyst instead of yeast, which Maybe it would be okay, but I wouldn't want my kids playing with that with their hands.

Jam: 04:12

Got it.

Melissa: 04:12

Got it. So yeast isn't just a much safer option.

Jam: 04:15

Okay.

Melissa: 04:16

So you've probably seen something like this. This is a slower bevel, but for kids, it'll be really cool.

Jam: 04:22

Yeah.

Melissa: 04:23

So, What happens is, basically, the hydrogen peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water. K. And the oxygen is released as bubbles.

Jam: 04:33

Mhmm.

Melissa: 04:33

And those bubbles are caught by the dish soap.

Jam: 04:37

Okay.

Melissa: 04:37

And that makes the foam.

Jam: 04:39

Got it. Interesting.

Melissa: 04:41

The yeast helps that reaction happen faster.

Jam: 04:43

Okay.

Melissa: 04:45

And I believe the foam that it makes should be safe for kids to play with.

Jam: 04:49

Okay.

Melissa: 04:50

I wouldn't have them put it in their mouths, eyes. Don't let them eat it. Don't let them swallow it. Definitely with adult supervision.

Jam: 04:55

Okay.

Melissa: 04:56

It feels kind of like shaving cream.

Jam: 04:58

Yeah. Yeah. Definitely felt like that.

Melissa: 04:59

Has that nice texture.

Jam: 05:01

Yeah.

Melissa: 05:02

I think this is a great activity for hanging out outside in the summer. Mhmm. And then you could just hose them down to wash them off after.

Jam: 05:08

Yeah.

Melissa: 05:09

But you there are a lot of approaches you can take to asking your kids questions about this. So you can ask them if the containers are solid, liquids, or gases.

Jam: 05:19

Mhmm.

Melissa: 05:20

Once you mix them together and the foam happens, you can ask them what state you think that is. Mhmm.

Jam: 05:25

That

Melissa: 05:25

one's kinda tricky because it's like a gas trapped in a liquid.

Jam: 05:28

Oh, yeah.

Melissa: 05:29

So it's kind of tricky.

Jam: 05:30

Right.

Melissa: 05:31

You can ask them why do you think the foam formed.

Jam: 05:35

Mhmm.

Melissa: 05:36

It always helps if get them to make a prediction, what do you think will happen if we mix these 2 things together?

Jam: 05:41

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa: 05:42

Because then they're invested in finding out the right answer, and then they can learn it's okay to make a guess and not be right.

Jam: 05:49

Mhmm.

Melissa: 05:49

That's what scientists do all the time.

Jam: 05:51

Mhmm.

Melissa: 05:52

You can ask them, what do you think would happen if we didn't add the dish soap? Mhmm. There's lots of different things you can do. So let them wonder. Let them be MAs.

Melissa: 06:00

Let them play. Let them get dirty.

Jam: 06:01

Mhmm.

Melissa: 06:02

And just let them experience science in a fun, positive way at an early age.

Jam: 06:06

Mhmm. And we will post a video of this experiment

Melissa: 06:10

Right.

Jam: 06:11

On all social media channels and our YouTube channel and stuff. Mhmm. So you can watch it and And see what it's like before you do this with your kids or whatever?

Melissa: 06:18

Yes.

Jam: 06:19

Especially if anything didn't quite make as much sense just hearing it described.

Melissa: 06:22

Oh, and

Jam: 06:23

see that.

Melissa: 06:24

It's always better to do this in a bottle or container that has a small opening on the top

Jam: 06:30

Right. Right.

Melissa: 06:31

Because the small opening allows a more volcano like effect. It'll work in a bowl. It'll make the same foam, but it's just kind of less exciting.

Jam: 06:38

Could you use just, like, a water bottle?

Melissa: 06:39

Yeah. I would use a water bottle or a 2 liter bottle, and you can scale up this reaction if you want. Uh-huh. But just be careful because the more Stuff you put in there, the warmer it's gonna get because this is what's known as an exothermic reaction, so it will put heat out.

Jam: 06:54

Got it.

Melissa: 06:55

So you if it's too hot, you don't want your kids to touch it quickly. It generates heat as a byproduct of everything else that's happening.

Jam: 07:01

Right. Right. Right.

Melissa: 07:03

So, Yeah. I recommend doing this in a a container with a small opening, doing it outside. And, yeah, you can make it A bigger reaction if you want more mess for your kids to play with. So that's how to do elephant's toothpaste. I hope you guys a fun time with this.

Melissa: 07:19

I think this is a great summer experiment and perfect for hanging out outside and letting kids get messy.

Jam: 07:26

And if you're like me and you're not a kid and your kid's too young to do this experiment, then just do it yourself because it's fun, and I loved it. This episode of chemistry for your life was created by Melissa Clooney and Jame Robinson. And we'd like to give a special thanks to E Robinson who reviewed this episode.