Outreach | OSU Winter Wonderings - Elephant Toothpaste

Winter Wonderings is a program put on by Oregon State University's PreCollege Programs. The program is geared towards gifted, highly talented 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Will Fennie and I taught a course examining chemical state changes (gas, liquid, solid), chemical reactions, and an introduction to the scientific method. Our activity is called 'Elephant Toothpaste' which involves a chemical reaction between activated yeast and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The reaction is exothermic, meaning that heat is produced. This is fun and all, but we feel that there is more to this opportunity than just a really cool reaction. We also had our students make hypotheses about what would happen when we vary the opening size of the reaction vessel; what do you think will happen?