Hydrogen Peroxide

[neuron]

Spilt some hydrogen peroxide on my fingers this afternoon. Washed it off as quickly as I could but tonight my fingers have turned white and look like Ash on the areas that the peroxide was spilt on. What's the reaction here?

[Hopkirk]

Well it is used to bleach hair, so that might explain the whitening.

[TheChair]

No big deal. A few days and it will be fine.

[theprof]

Hydrogen peroxide diffuses through the dead, upper layer of your skin (epidermis) quickly and I'd guess it had already started doing this before you washed it off. It then moves into the lower, living tissue (dermis) where every cell contains an enzyme called catalase. The peroxide reacts with the catalase forming water and gaseous oxygen. The oxygen is released as microbubbles which cause microembolism of the capillaries in the areas along with the surrounding tissue. This causes the skin whiteness and the oxygen tries to rise out of the skin into the atmosphere. When complete, you can usually brush off the damaged skin a few hours later.
All cells produce hydrogen peroxide as a by-product of respiration. Catalase and another enzyme called glutathione peroxidase stops oxidative damage in the body which would be very harmful.

[venator]

No problem. Just avoid red fuming nitric acid - h202 + rfna = rocket fuel (joke)

[theprof]

Hmm, with all due respect Ventnor, that's nothing.

Download a copy of "Ignition! An informal history of liquid rocket propellants" by John Drury Clark off the Internet and look at the chapter on Chlorine Trifluoride.

I've stood within a metre of a container of the liquid form at a government laboratory and just looking at it made me very uneasy! The book is well worth a read.

[jennyjoan]

Hydrogen Peroxide was my first streaks in my hair. I had long mousey hair and I bought one shilling of the peroxide, used a big denture brush and brushed down my hair and I had streaks. One shilling then was 5 pence. I used that method for a long time.