Then we turned our attention to the oozy, exploding bit...
If you want to try this at home you will need...
What you need:
A carved pumpkin (use a small one)
250 mls 6% Hydrogen Peroxide
2 teaspoons (or 2 sachets) dried yeast
2 Tablespoons warm water
Washing up liquid
Food colouring (optional)
What to do:
Place a small plastic container inside your pumpkin (large enough to contain 300 mls but small enough to leave plenty of room between the container and pumpkin lid). Carefully pour in the 250 mls hydrogen peroxide. Add a BIG squirt on washing up liquid. A about 5 drops of food colouring if using.
In a separate bowl mix the 2 teaspoons of dried yeast into the warm water. Carfeully add this to the hydrogen peroxide mixture inside the pumpkin, replace the lid and then stand back and enjoy!
What is happening:
This is an example of a
catalytic reaction which really just means that something is added to the reaction to make it happen a lot faster, but that it is not chemically changed by the reaction. The
something added is called a
catalyst. The yeast is the catalyst it this reaction... it splits the hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen without getting chemically changed itself. The oxygen produced then combines with the washing up liquid to produce a LOT of foam!
Don't forget about the lovely fleshy parts of the pumpkin, you did keep them before you started experimenting, right? Here are some links to some great recipes, from some of my favourite bloggers, to put that pumpkin to good use...
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