In the grand scheme of things, wanting to know how high up into the air you can shoot colorful goo-like foam probably doesn’t count for much (read: it doesn’t, not at all). But one former NASA engineer needed to find out, so he spent one year working on a project that would allow him to do so.
Mark Rober is a former NASA engineer and a very popular YouTuber. He’s the same guy who, last year, built a “Ninja Warrior” course to stop squirrels from stealing his nuts. He’s also the guy who already holds one Guinness World Record for another elephant toothpaste stunt, which saw him shoot it 60 feet (18.3 meters) into the air.
This most recent attempt tops the previous one. He didn’t actually send the elephant toothpaste into “space,” but that’s how he chose to phrase it in the video below. The bottom line is that he was able to build a steel volcano that shot green goo as high as a 25-story building and, to boot, he did it for an excellent cause, not just for his ego.
Elephant toothpaste is what happens when you mix hydrogen peroxide with soap and food coloring, and add potassium iodide as a catalyst. Rober did for a kid named Bryan who used his only Make a Wish to buy another kid with cancer a quad bike after he had it stolen. Bryan had wanted to buy it for himself, but gave it away when he heard the other kid’s story. So Rober threw him the greatest and most amazing birthday party ever.
It started off with a Tesla ride, a private jet flight, a limo ride, and included two pool parties, a separate experiment with elephant toothpaste, and the record-breaking volcano stunt. As usual, Rober went through the steps of explaining how he made everything possible, but he stops short of revealing all the secrets since, he says, making the kind of quantities of elephant toothpaste he made can be dangerous.
Putting it all together was no small feat, mind you. Everyone in Gridley, California, helped out, from professional builders to volunteers, down to the anonymous benefactor who hooked them up with the private jet and the limo. For the volcano, Rober and the team built a 5-ton steel structure sitting bolted to a concrete base, so as to prevent the volcano itself from flying off like it happened last time.
The record, in case you want a more precise answer to the question in the headline is 250 feet (76.2 meters). And it looked out of this world!
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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