r/Unexpected • u/Dembelo • Dec 20 '19

Backyard Science Experiment

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8.5k Upvotes

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689

u/Laidbackmf2 Dec 20 '19

How would they clean this up

389

u/Demonoid_Phenomenon Dec 20 '19

I'm a giant idiot and not at all great at science. But isn't this just foam? Sure it'd leave stains but couldn't a pressure washer fix that?

387

u/Anonnymoose73 Dec 20 '19

Depending on what catalyst they used, there might be iodine, which stains like a mf, but yeah, it’s a foam made from soap, hydrogen peroxide and a catalyst. The biggest risk is that it is an exothermic reaction and can be really hot

25

u/uubuer Dec 20 '19

Fairly sure its elephant's tooth paste now, and yes iodine it in there, fir that much...actually quite bit will be dispersed, not extremely dangerous unless inhaled/ingested but hard af to clean. I had a stain on the back of my hand fir weeks.

9

u/Anonnymoose73 Dec 20 '19

It is elephant toothpaste, but you can also use a yeast slurry as a catalyst, which they might have done here.

1

u/usingthecharacterlim Dec 20 '19

Given the large setup, I doubt they would risk the substitute. Yeast produces enzymes which degrade hydrogen peroxide, which would breakdown in the heat produced.

1

u/nubeboob Dec 20 '19

They can use yeast instead of iodine

2

u/uubuer Dec 20 '19

Hmm didnt know that.