Elephant's toothpaste is a foamy substance caused by the quick decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) using potassium iodide (KI) or yeast and warm water as a catalyst. [1] How rapidly the reaction proceeds will depend on the concentration of hydrogen peroxide. [2] [3] [4]
Because it requires only a small number of ingredients and makes a "volcano of foam", it is a popular experiment for children to perform in school or at parties.
About 50 ml of concentrated (>12%) [5] hydrogen peroxide is first mixed with liquid soap or dishwashing detergent. Then, a catalyst, often around 10 ml potassium iodide solution or catalase from baker's yeast, is added to make the hydrogen peroxide decompose very quickly. Hydrogen peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water. As a small amount of hydrogen peroxide generates a large volume of oxygen, the oxygen quickly pushes out of the container. [6] The soapy water traps the oxygen, creating bubbles, and turns into foam. [6] About 5-10 drops of food coloring could also be added before the catalyst to dramatize the effect. How rapidly the reaction occurs will depend on the concentration of hydrogen peroxide used. [7]
This experiment shows the catalyzed decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) decomposes into water and oxygen gas, which is in the form of foam, but normally the reaction is too slow to be easily perceived or measured: [2]
In normal conditions, this reaction takes place very slowly, therefore a catalyst is added to speed up the reaction, which will result in rapid formation of foam. The iodide ion from potassium iodide acts as a catalyst and speeds up the reaction while remaining chemically unchanged in the reaction process. [2] [3] [8] The iodide ion changes the mechanism by which the reaction occurs:
The reaction is exothermic; the foam produced is hot (about 75°C or 167°F).[ specify ] [2] [3] A glowing splint can be used to show that the gas produced is oxygen. [9] The rate of foam formation measured in volume per time unit has a positive correlation with the peroxide concentration (v/V%), which means that more foam will be generated per unit time when a more concentrated peroxide solution is used. [10]
YouTube science entertainer Mark Rober has created a variation of the experiment, named "Devil's Toothpaste", which has a far more pronounced reaction than the version usually performed in classroom settings. [11] [12] The ingredients to create the devil's toothpaste reaction are the same as the regular elephant's toothpaste reaction, the only difference being the use of 50% H2O2 instead of the usual 35%. [13]
Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula H2O2. In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usually as a dilute solution in water for consumer use and in higher concentrations for industrial use. Concentrated hydrogen peroxide, or "high-test peroxide", decomposes explosively when heated and has been used as both a monopropellant and an oxidizer in rocketry.
In chemistry, a superoxide is a compound that contains the superoxide ion, which has the chemical formula O−2. The systematic name of the anion is dioxide(1−). The reactive oxygen ion superoxide is particularly important as the product of the one-electron reduction of dioxygen O2, which occurs widely in nature. Molecular oxygen (dioxygen) is a diradical containing two unpaired electrons, and superoxide results from the addition of an electron which fills one of the two degenerate molecular orbitals, leaving a charged ionic species with a single unpaired electron and a net negative charge of −1. Both dioxygen and the superoxide anion are free radicals that exhibit paramagnetism. Superoxide was historically also known as "hyperoxide".
An oxidizing agent is a substance in a redox chemical reaction that gains or "accepts"/"receives" an electron from a reducing agent. In other words, an oxidizer is any substance that oxidizes another substance. The oxidation state, which describes the degree of loss of electrons, of the oxidizer decreases while that of the reductant increases; this is expressed by saying that oxidizers "undergo reduction" and "are reduced" while reducers "undergo oxidation" and "are oxidized". Common oxidizing agents are oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, and the halogens.
Luminol (C8H7N3O2) is a chemical that exhibits chemiluminescence, with a blue glow, when mixed with an appropriate oxidizing agent. Luminol is a white-to-pale-yellow crystalline solid that is soluble in most polar organic solvents but insoluble in water.
Magnesium peroxide (MgO2) is an odorless fine powder peroxide with a white to off-white color. It is similar to calcium peroxide because magnesium peroxide also releases oxygen by breaking down at a controlled rate with water. Commercially, magnesium peroxide often exists as a compound of magnesium peroxide and magnesium hydroxide.
Chemical decomposition, or chemical breakdown, is the process or effect of simplifying a single chemical entity into two or more fragments. Chemical decomposition is usually regarded and defined as the exact opposite of chemical synthesis. In short, the chemical reaction in which two or more products are formed from a single reactant is called a decomposition reaction.
A gas generator is a device for generating gas. A gas generator may create gas by a chemical reaction or from a solid or liquid source, when storing a pressurized gas is undesirable or impractical.
Sodium peroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula Na2O2. This yellowish solid is the product of sodium ignited in excess oxygen. It is a strong base. This metal peroxide exists in several hydrates and peroxyhydrates including Na2O2·2H2O2·4H2O, Na2O2·2H2O, Na2O2·2H2O2, and Na2O2·8H2O. The octahydrate, which is simple to prepare, is white, in contrast to the anhydrous material.
In organic chemistry, organic peroxides are organic compounds containing the peroxide functional group. If the R′ is hydrogen, the compounds are called hydroperoxides, which are discussed in that article. The O−O bond of peroxides easily breaks, producing free radicals of the form RO•. Thus, organic peroxides are useful as initiators for some types of polymerization, such as the acrylic, unsaturated polyester, and vinyl ester resins used in glass-reinforced plastics. MEKP and benzoyl peroxide are commonly used for this purpose. However, the same property also means that organic peroxides can explosively combust. Organic peroxides, like their inorganic counterparts, are often powerful bleaching agents.
The iodine clock reaction is a classical chemical clock demonstration experiment to display chemical kinetics in action; it was discovered by Hans Heinrich Landolt in 1886. The iodine clock reaction exists in several variations, which each involve iodine species and redox reagents in the presence of starch. Two colourless solutions are mixed and at first there is no visible reaction. After a short time delay, the liquid suddenly turns to a shade of dark blue due to the formation of a triiodide–starch complex. In some variations, the solution will repeatedly cycle from colorless to blue and back to colorless, until the reagents are depleted.
The Briggs–Rauscher oscillating reaction is one of a small number of known oscillating chemical reactions. It is especially well suited for demonstration purposes because of its visually striking colour changes: the freshly prepared colourless solution slowly turns an amber colour, then suddenly changes to a very dark blue. This slowly fades to colourless and the process repeats, about ten times in the most popular formulation, before ending as a dark blue liquid smelling strongly of iodine.
Lithium peroxide is the inorganic compound with the formula Li2O2. Lithium peroxide is a white solid, and unlike most other alkali metal peroxides, it is nonhygroscopic. Because of its high oxygen:mass and oxygen:volume ratios, the solid has been used to remove CO2 from and release O2 to the atmosphere in spacecraft.
Trioxidane, also called hydrogen trioxide is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula H[O]
3H. It is one of the unstable hydrogen polyoxides. In aqueous solutions, trioxidane decomposes to form water and singlet oxygen:
The Bray–Liebhafsky reaction is a chemical clock first described by William C. Bray in 1921 and the first oscillating reaction in a stirred homogeneous solution. He investigated the role of the iodate, the anion of iodic acid, in the catalytic conversion of hydrogen peroxide to oxygen and water by the iodate. He observed that the concentration of iodine molecules oscillated periodically and that hydrogen peroxide was consumed during the reaction.
In chemistry, a photoinitiator is a molecule that creates reactive species when exposed to radiation. Synthetic photoinitiators are key components in photopolymers.
Potassium peroxochromate, potassium tetraperoxochromate(V), or simply potassium perchromate, is an inorganic compound having the chemical formula K3[Cr(O2)4]. It is a red-brown paramagnetic solid. It is the potassium salt of tetraperoxochromate(V), one of the few examples of chromium in the +5 oxidation state and one of the rare examples of a complex stabilized only by peroxide ligands. This compound is used as a source of singlet oxygen.
Chromium(VI) oxide peroxide is the name given to a collection of chromium coordination complexes. They have the formula CrO(O2)2L where L is a ligand. These species are dark blue and often labile. They all feature oxo ligand and two peroxo ligands, with the remaining coordination sites occupied by water, hydroxide, ether, or other Lewis bases.
The Pinnick oxidation is an organic reaction by which aldehydes can be oxidized into their corresponding carboxylic acids using sodium chlorite (NaClO2) under mild acidic conditions. It was originally developed by Lindgren and Nilsson. The typical reaction conditions used today were developed by G. A. Kraus. H.W. Pinnick later demonstrated that these conditions could be applied to oxidize α,β-unsaturated aldehydes. There exist many different reactions to oxidize aldehydes, but only a few are amenable to a broad range of functional groups. The Pinnick oxidation has proven to be both tolerant of sensitive functionalities and capable of reacting with sterically hindered groups. This reaction is especially useful for oxidizing α,β-unsaturated aldehydes, and another one of its advantages is its relatively low cost.
Metal peroxides are metal-containing compounds with ionically- or covalently-bonded peroxide (O2−
2) groups. This large family of compounds can be divided into ionic and covalent peroxide. The first class mostly contains the peroxides of the alkali and alkaline earth metals whereas the covalent peroxides are represented by such compounds as hydrogen peroxide and peroxymonosulfuric acid (H2SO5). In contrast to the purely ionic character of alkali metal peroxides, peroxides of transition metals have a more covalent character.
In chemistry, the oxygen reduction reaction refers to the reduction half reaction whereby O2 is reduced to water or hydrogen peroxide. In fuel cells, the reduction to water is preferred because the current is higher. The oxygen reduction reaction is well demonstrated and highly efficient in nature.
