Why does Hydrogen peroxide bubble when it comes contained by to contact near blood?
I know that it is a chemical reaction. But what properties in each substance create this "violent" reaction?
Answers:
The reason why it foams is because blood and cells contain an enzyme call catalase. Since a cut or scrape contains both blood and damaged cells, near is lots of catalase floating around.
When the catalase comes in contact with hydrogen peroxide, it turns the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into water (H2O) and oxygen gas (O2).
2H2O2 --> 2H2O + O2
Catalase does this extremely successfully -- up to 200,000 reactions per second. The bubbles you see in the foam are pure oxygen bubbles being created by the catalase. Try putting a touch hydrogen peroxide on a cut potato and it will do the same thing for the same root -- catalase in the damaged potato cells react with the hydrogen peroxide.
Hydrogen peroxide does not foam in the bottle or on your skin because there is no catalase to give support to the reaction to occur. Hydrogen peroxide is stable at room temperature. Source(s): http://www.howstuffworks.com/question115…
The production of catalase
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Answers:
The reason why it foams is because blood and cells contain an enzyme call catalase. Since a cut or scrape contains both blood and damaged cells, near is lots of catalase floating around.
When the catalase comes in contact with hydrogen peroxide, it turns the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into water (H2O) and oxygen gas (O2).
2H2O2 --> 2H2O + O2
Catalase does this extremely successfully -- up to 200,000 reactions per second. The bubbles you see in the foam are pure oxygen bubbles being created by the catalase. Try putting a touch hydrogen peroxide on a cut potato and it will do the same thing for the same root -- catalase in the damaged potato cells react with the hydrogen peroxide.
Hydrogen peroxide does not foam in the bottle or on your skin because there is no catalase to give support to the reaction to occur. Hydrogen peroxide is stable at room temperature. Source(s): http://www.howstuffworks.com/question115…
The production of catalase
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