Elephant toothpaste

By taking a container of some kind and filling it with a little hydrogen peroxide then dropping in a solution of yeast and water you can make a fun experiment called elephant toothpaste. This elephant toothpaste is the result of H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) and the yeast reacting together. The yeast steals a oxygen from the H2O2 and leaves H2O behind while the yeast gets the oxygen it needs to grow. The resulting reaction produces the following: heat (exothermic reaction), water (contained by the bottle container), and a foam that should shoot out of the bottle and expand until all of the H2O2′s spare oxygen has been used.

Science Putty/Thinking Putty

Thinking putty is what happens when you combine graphite with putty. You can use it with magnets, lasers, hammers, etc…to show different properties in Science. Because of the way the metal reacts to magnetic fields while suspended in putty the putty will try to stretch around any significantly strong magnet. This can either look like you putty is alive and trying to eat the magnet or if you pull the magnet away you will notice that an arm will follow and will defy gravity if the magnet is really powerful. You can also tear and shatter the putty because of the metal. Slow movements will stretch the putty but quick movement will go above the friction the putty can take and rip it. Hitting the putty with a hammer will shatter it and makes for quite a display in class.

Dry Ice Bubble

Every Scientist has experimented with dry ice at one point or another during their career. It is just that fun. (SideNote: when cutting it a piece of dry ice sounds like it is farting) By taking a piece of dry ice and putting it in a bowl of water that has a lip on it; take a container and make a very soapy water mixture. Soak a cloth or rolled rag in the soapy solution. Wet the lip of the bowl without getting any soapy water in the dry ice bowl. (SideNote: soap and dry ice water making frozen bubbles of CO2). Take a long strip of cloth that can reach the entire lip of the bowl and wipe the cloth soaked in the soap across the lip. A bubble should form and begin to blow up with the CO2 steam/smoke. It will depend on the soap used and the concentration but it should get at least a foot or so in width as it blows up. When the surface tension finally bursts the bubble the built up CO2 steam will rush out riding the force of the bubble and covering any table of desk it was placed on.

Thanks to VideoEd for sharing these great ideas!