Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Pachyderm Dental Care

Elephant Toothpaste is the name of a classic chemistry experiment that's all about getting hydrogen peroxide to quickly break down into water and lots of oxygen. The result: Thick spirals of super-awesome foam.

There's lots of videos of this on the Internets, but I chose this one (despite the head-shakingly awkward co-host) because it demonstrates two versions of Elephant Toothpaste--one of which you can do at home with easily available materials. Fun!

As usual, if you've got a video you'd like to see on Saturday Morning Science Experiment, email me!

Thumbnail image courtesy Flickr user mauren veras, via CC.

Read more 

show full bio

Maggie Koerth-Baker

I do the Twitter, the Google+, and (to a much lesser extent) the Facebook.

Books
Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us, my book about the future of energy in the United States, will be published April 10th.

Upcoming Appearances
April 2 at Skeptics in the Pub, Boston, Mass.— 7:00 pm at Tommy Doyle's in Harvard Square. Please RSVP.
April 4 at MIT: "Shedding Light, Online", a discussion about how blogging and a dynamic audience helped shape my book, Before the Lights Go Out—4:00 pm in Maseeh Hall. Please RSVP.
• April 6 at Carnegie Mellon University: More details to come
April 9-13 at University of Colorado, Boulder: 64th Annual Conference on World Affairs
April 10 at Colorado State University, Fort Collins: "Putting the Fun Back in Infrastructure"—3:30 pm in the Rocky Mountain Innosphere.
• April 19 at The Bakken Museum in Minneapolis: Book Launch Party! Come enjoy snacks, a presentation by me, and some fun with the Bakken's Leyden jar.
April 21 at Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul: Earth Day Tweetup event with Will Steger and Sean Otto—events run 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
May 2 at University of California, Berkeley: "Putting the Fun Back in Infrastructure"—6:00 pm, location TBA.
May 3 at the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco Chapter—Lunchtime lecture, time and location TBA.
May 3 at Barnes and Noble, El Cerrito, Cali.—7:00 pm.
May 30 in New York City—Panel on local and DIY energy with the New America Foundation
June 22-25 in Aspen, Colorado: Aspen Environment Forum
July 5-8 at CONvergence in Minneapolis, Minn.—exact times and dates TBA


Where not otherwise specified, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States and other countries.