CHAPTER IV

PRESENTATION, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

The chapter deals with the presentation, analysis and interpretation of the results of

the test study that aims to know the effectiveness of dry yeast in making elephant toothpaste

experiment conducted by the researchers.

1. The ingredients chemically react to each other by producing large foam using

hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), dry yeast and liquid soap. First we pour in the hydrogen peroxide,

then the liquid soap and finally the dry yeast.

The hydrogen peroxide used in the demonstration is 30% hydrogen peroxide. This is

10 times stronger than the hydrogen peroxide that you have in your medicine cabinet. That is

usually 3% hydrogen peroxide, and your local salon probably uses 6%. The 30% hydrogen

peroxide is not something you would put on a cut or scrape, but it works perfectly for this

demonstration. The sodium iodide reacts with the hydrogen peroxide (H 2O2) by removing an

oxygen atom. This essentially produces water and oxygen gas (H 2O + O2). The oxygen gas

produced gets trapped in the soap which produces the big ball of foam. The reaction produces

oxygen gas, water and iodine. That is why the foam has a yellow color. If you were to touch

this foam, your hand would be stained yellow just as if you put iodine on your skin.

Peroxide totally can act as a reducing agent. This activity is pH dependent: acid favors

the peroxide acting as an oxidizing agent and being reduced to water, whereas basic

conditions favor the peroxide acting as a reducing agent and being oxidized to oxygen gas.
Under neutral conditions, both reactions can happen: ie the Fenton reaction, where peroxide

shuttles iron between Fe+2 and Fe+3 states.

Both the following reactions are favorable:

2 I- + 2 H+ + H*2O2* → I*2* + 2 H*2*O

I*2* + H*2O2* → 2 I- + 2 H+ + O*2*

Either bakers or brewers yeasts work for this - it makes little difference. Fresh, live

yeast is ideal if you can get it. But dried yeast will work if you activate it first. To do this, add

the dry powder or granules to some warm water (between 30 and 35 o C is ideal) with

between 5 and 10 grams of brown sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and leave it alone for

at least 10 minutes. You can tell when it is ready because it will have made a foam of carbon

dioxide bubbles.

There are many other catalysts for the rapid decomposition of peroxide. Another

famous biological source of peroxidase enzyme is freshly grated horseradish root. But you

can of course use simple chemical catalysts. Soluble iron salts such as iron sulfate or nitrate

work reasonably well, as does manganese dioxide. Potassium iodide is rapid, but be careful

how much you use, because all the iodide will be oxidized to elemental iodine, which stains.

Or you could hark back to the original Nazi V2 Missile and use calcium permanganate. The

A4 rocket powering the V2 used high strength peroxide to drive its turbopumps. Ze Germans

used calcium permanganate because it is just about ze fastest and most efficient chemical

catalyst for decomposing peroxide. Though potassium permanganate probably works almost

as well, and you are more likely to have that on hand in a school lab.
 Shown above is the graph based on the "decomposition of hydrogen peroxide"

experiment, the same one seen in the video. Do to doing the experiment in the sink, I lost

exact values on the amount of foam produced. Instead, I analyzed the footage and came to the

conclusion that the 3 Oz test produced about 1.8 times the amount of foam as the 2 Oz test.

Looking at my background information, this makes sense because when the hydrogen

peroxide reacts with the yeast, it produces oxygen that bubbles up the soap. Knowing there is

quite a bit more hydrogen peroxide then there is dish soap, increasing the amount of dish

soap, closer to 4 oz produces more foam. This shows why the 3 Oz test produced more than

the 2 Oz test.

2. Hydrogen peroxide has different percentage and it is 3% and 6%. It

dissolved by mixing it with liquid soap and dry yeast. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a by-

product of respiration and is made in all living cells. Hydrogen peroxide is harmful and must
be removed as soon as it is produced in the cell. Cells make the enzyme catalase to remove

hydrogen peroxide.

This investigation looks at the rate of oxygen production by the catalase

in pureed potato as the concentration of hydrogen peroxide varies. The oxygen produced in

30 seconds is collected over water. Then the rate of reaction is calculated.

 The glass column contains:

o 3% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solution

o A mixture of dish soap and glycerine

o Food coloring.

 The other solution used is a saturated aqueous

solution of KI.

 During the demonstration, the KI solution is added

to the glass column.

Observations:

     As soon as the catalyst is added, an eruption of foam flies out of the top of the gas column.

Explanation (including important chemical equations):

     This demonstration is based on the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and

oxygen gas.  Reactions like these that are both oxidations and reductions are known

as disproportionation reactions:

     2 H2O2(aq) -> 2 H2O(l) + O2(g)

     Left on its own at room temperature, this reaction happens at a rate so slow that, for

practical purposes, it may as well not even exist.  A catalyst is added to speed things along.  

The KI added dissociates into K+ and I-, at which point the I- begins its work.  The reaction

pathway represented below has a lower activation energy than the straight decomposition

represented above:

     H2O2(aq) + I-(aq) -> OI-(aq) + H2O(l)

     H2O2(aq) + OI-(aq) -> H2O(l) + O2(g) + I-(aq)

     Note that the iodide ion is conserved in this reaction (it is not consumed in the sum of the

reactions, and the same iodide ion could potentially go through many such cycles).  This is

the definition of a catalyst: a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without

being consumed in the reaction.

3. To become safe for everyone, we need to follow the rules by doing elephant

toothpaste experiment. Step by step to helps kid friendly.

Step 1. Gather your materials. Wear safety goggles. Place your cylinder in your

tray. Have an adult pour the hydrogen peroxide into the cylinder. 

Step 2. Have your child add two pumps or about a tablespoon of dish soap into the

cylinder.
 Step 3. Add several drops of ONE color of food coloring (we tried more than one

color and it just turns gray!). One color we found was best and if you want to create those

classic toothpaste looking stripes, add the color to various sides of the cylinder.

Step 4. Mix your yeast with the warm water for at least 30 seconds.

Step 5. Pour the yeast into the cylinder, step back and watch the foamy magic

happen! DON’T TOUCH THE FOAM AS IT’S AN EXOTHERMIC REACTION AND

IS HOT! After several minutes, it does cool down. 

The foam does dissipate from its lofty volume rather quickly in minutes and after

several minutes, is not hot to the touch. However, to be extra cautious, please don’t have

children touch and play with the foam in case all the hydrogen peroxide has not broken down

from the catalyst (yeast).

4. The chemical reaction caused by the rapid decomposition of hydrogen

peroxide by using dry yeast as a reagent.  How rapidly the reaction proceeds will depend on

the concentration of hydrogen peroxide.

The catalyzed decomposition of H2O2 by iodide ion (I–) is employed to produce foam

in a controlled fashion. The time at which the foam reached a known volume in a

conventional 500 mL measuring cylinder was registered. A straightforward correlation was

observed between foam production and v/V% in a given range. A correlation plot was

obtained, and the concentration of unknown solutions “A” and “B” was then estimated from

it. This simple and effective laboratory activity is proposed as a learning activity for

comparing and analyzing results from both this quantitative approach and titration method

reported by scientific literature.

 Enzymes such as Catalase are protein molecules that are found in living cells. They are

used to speed up specific reactions in the cells. Each enzyme just performs one particular

reaction so they are all very specific. Catalase enzymes found in living cells e.g. in yeast, potato

or liver, speed up (in our case) the breaking down of hydrogen peroxide.

The main concept this activity introduces is how chemists use catalysts in reactions.

Sometimes reactions will happen very quickly without any outside encouragement, but other

times the reactions need a little boost. If this is the case, chemists will try to find a good

catalyst. Catalysts help the starting materials, or reactants, find a better pathway to make the

products. Better paths usually need less energy to follow. In yeast, there are enzymes present

whose job is to catalyze a variety of reactions. In this demonstration, the enzyme called

“peroxidase” has the job of breaking hydrogen peroxide down into water and oxygen.
Peroxidase in the yeast makes the reaction happen a lot faster than if we just left the hydrogen

peroxide sitting in the room. This activity also shows that gases can be a product of a

reaction. We usually can’t see gases being produced, but the dish soap we add to our

container traps oxygen as it is released from hydrogen peroxide. The dish soap is responsible

for the “wow” factor we see. The students can make predictions of how the reaction will

change with different conditions (more yeast, less peroxide, etc.).