Sep 26, 2009 1
Upcoming Science
Oh! I forgot to mention that I recently bought some of that new fangled AquaFresh Isoactive toothpaste. If you don’t know it, it has the fun property of getting really foamy (I suppose to get fluoride everywhere).
The science-y part is that it does this by way of isopentane, a substance with the cool property that it boils right around room temperature (28 degrees C or so). So, the isopentane is in the gel that is put in your mouth, which is at 37 degrees or so, and, voila, the isopentane boils causing the gel to get foamy! I imagine the heat generated by the friction of brushing helps move things along as well.
Right now I’m trying to figure out any cool demos or something that I can do to have fun with gelled isopentane. Everything I think of seems to use equipment I’d have in a chem lab, but not at home. But, then again, are a Bunsen burner and a gas range really that far apart?
The answer, by the way, is yes! A thousand times yes! Don’t use a gas range burner as a Bunsen burner! Sigh…time to find a lawyer…
