Frozen Yogurt Squeezers a lesson in Catalysts

Take one boy(my son) and add one vegetable, this is a chemical reaction that can be very dangerous. This is a Slow but Dangerous reaction. In fact the slower the reaction, the more dangerous it can be. Some reactions form a gas, some form water, and some form a precipitate this reactions does all three (have you ever changed a diaper)! All reactions either release energy or absorb energy. This reaction releases a lot of energy. Loud energy!

Now by themselves harmless. The boy is cute, fun, and joyful. The vegetable is calm nonreactive and is healthy. Put them together and watch out. Here is the funny thing thou, the faster these two react with each other the better. This reaction works best in under 3 minutes. 4 and 5 minute reactions may work, but anything after 5 and you had better have on your safety goggles on.

Using my vast knowledge of chemistry I have decided on a course of action. I know that a rate of a reaction can be influenced by temperature, surface area, concentration and a catalysts. Thus to speed up this reaction I could:

1. Increase the temperatures of the reactants
2. Increase the surface areas of the reactants (small particles react faster then larger particles)
3. Increase the concentration of the reactants
4. Add a catalyst

Lets start with:

#1 I don't recommend heating up the boy but the vegetable can be heated up. I have tried this many times and it really does not work.

#2 I tried cutting the vegetables in smaller pieces not the boy. I did notice an increase in the rate of reaction but I think I put more energy into it then I got out of it.

#3 Increasing the concentration of the vegetables didn't seem to work trust me.

#4 The catalysts. Let me explain how a catalysts works. Catalysts increase the reaction rate with out being in the reaction. For my experiment I chose a frozen Yogurt Squeezers also known as gogurts. Just the mention of a squeezer seems to excite my son. Once he saw the squeezer he really got excited. Now I simply placed the squeezer near the vegetables. The Vegetables were gone in under 3 minutes and the squeezer was still there still frozen.

Lesson learned Frozen Yogurt Squeezers make an excellent catalysts your class my family.