ScienceHideout
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Elephant's Toothpaste Variations
Hey everyone- long time no see!
To increase general interest and awareness in chemistry, I will be doing different experiments at this year's Maker Faire Detroit! I have a bunch of
really cool demonstrations planned, including the Formaldehyde clock reaction and the Briggs-Rauscher reaction, I got a periodic table shower curtain
for a backdrop, and I am ordering goodies to give away!
Anyways, I want to do elephant toothpaste as one of my demonstrations. I have plenty of H2O2. I am sure that everyone can see where the problem comes
in- KI is very expensive because of those radioactive nuts that drove up the price. I have ~50g I2, but I don't want to waste that making more KI.
Right now I only have 35g, and it is much too expensive to throw in peroxide.
Anyways- I know that you can do this reaction with MnO2, yeast, and iron oxide. They just don't give the same effect, though! Does anyone have any
good and cheap variations to this fun experiment?
Thanks,
SciHide
hey, if you are reading this, I can't U2U, but you are always welcome to send me an email!
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sargent1015
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You can dilute your KI, but it tends to slow the reaction down. That is what we do at my university, still cool and foamy, just not as quite
spectacular.
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bbartlog
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I recall doing this by mixing H2O2 35%, detergent, and CuSO4, and then adding NaOH dissolved in some water. I've also seen claims that K2SO4 will
catalyze the decomposition, but I tried that and as far as I can tell it doesn't work.
The less you bet, the more you lose when you win.
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ScienceHideout
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Registered: 12-3-2011
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I will be sure to look at the copper one, that sounds quite interesting. Is the reaction pretty good and fast?
hey, if you are reading this, I can't U2U, but you are always welcome to send me an email!
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