Magical peroxide

When most people think of peroxide, they envision the square brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide tucked away in the medicine cabinet. Dairy farmers might think of the industrial-strength hydrogen peroxide used in their well water treatment system. When I think of peroxide, I think: magical cleaning potion.

We keep a 15-gallon barrel of 34% hydrogen peroxide in the milk house, and it is, hands down, my favorite cleaning product. Not only does it make cleaning jobs way easier, but it’s also ridiculously satisfying to watch it bubble and foam as it does its magic.

We sometimes get black stains on the milk house floor where our detergent, acid and teat dip barrels sit. A little splash of the industrial peroxide makes them magically disappear. That’s about the only time I use 34% peroxide full strength; for most cleaning jobs, I mix hot water, Dawn dish soap and a bit of peroxide. This combination is great for general milk house cleaning and everything calf related: calf bottles and nipples, plastic pails, the calf warmer and even the calf pens.

I keep a small bottle of industrial peroxide in the house as well. The best use I’ve found for it so far is cleaning and disinfecting the nylon dish scrubber I use for washing dishes. The scrubber is a little crocheted square I got as a gift. I love it so much, I won’t wash dishes with any other type of scrubber. I could wash it in the washing machine, but I’m scared the washer will eat it or the scrubber will otherwise disappear into the abyss of laundry. Instead, I mix a couple tablespoons of industrial peroxide into a jar of hot water, drop the scrubber in and let the peroxide do its thing. After a minute and a good rinse, the scrubber looks and feels brand new.

Beyond magical cleaning potions, peroxide also makes me think of Chemistry for Kids. When Dan was in second grade, he asked me how soon they would start doing chemistry experiments at school. I don’t recall where Dan’s interest in chemistry came from, but I vividly remember thinking that, if he had to wait until eighth or tenth grade to see chemistry in action, he might well lose that interest. The next day, we made a baking soda and vinegar volcano. After seeing both Dan’s and Monika’s interest bloom, I looked into other kid-friendly chemistry experiments we could do at home. Before long, I was teaching a mini-course at their elementary school that I called Chemistry for Kids.

In 10 years of teaching the course, my students’ favorite chemistry experiment was easily elephant toothpaste. The experiment uses yeast as a catalyst to cleave an oxygen atom from hydrogen peroxide and, with the help of a little dish soap, make instant foam. The foam looks like toothpaste being squeezed out of a tube, hence the name. If you have kids who love science, being surprised or making messes, elephant toothpaste checks all the boxes.

The experiment calls for 6% hydrogen peroxide, which is the strength used by hairdressers; the brown bottle in the medicine cabinet is 3%. Since I had access to 34% peroxide, I made my own six percent solution.

Elephant toothpaste

Materials:

A clean 16-ounce plastic bottle (a Coke bottle works best)

Foil cake pan

Small funnel

1/2 cup 6% hydrogen peroxide*

10 drops food coloring

1 tablespoon Dawn dish soap

Small cup (a 3-ounce bathroom cup works well)

1 packet regular dry yeast

3 tablespoons very warm water

Stir stick or popsicle stick

*To make 6% hydrogen peroxide from 34%, combine 21 mL 34% hydrogen peroxide with enough water to make 1/2 cup. For a large group, combine 170 mL 34% hydrogen peroxide with enough water to make 8 cups.

Directions:

1. Set the bottle in the foil cake pan to collect foam after it erupts.

2. Using the funnel, carefully pour 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide into the bottle.

3. Add 10 drops of food coloring to the peroxide in the bottle.

4. Add 1 tablespoon dish soap to the bottle and gently swish the bottle around to mix the soap and peroxide.

5. Put 3 tablespoons of very warm water into the small cup, then add the yeast. Using a stir stick or popsicle stick, mix yeast into water. The yeast will glob onto the stick at first. Scrape the stick off on the edge of the cup and keep mixing.

6. Pour the yeast-water mixture into the bottle and immediately remove the funnel. The chemical reaction will happen very quickly, causing the foam to erupt out of the bottle.

7. Encourage your chemist to feel how warm the bottle becomes during the reaction. This chemical reaction is exothermic, so it creates heat.

8. The resulting foam is just soap, water, and yeast, so kids can play with the foam.

9. For cleaning up, everything can be washed down the drain.

Sadie Frericks and her husband, Glen, milk 100 cows near Melrose, Minnesota. They have three children: Dan, Monika, and Daphne. Sadie also writes a blog at www.dairygoodlife.com. She can be reached at sadiefrericks@gmail.com.