Question

Is hydrogen peroxide a bleach?

Answer 1

Hydrogen peroxide is a colorless liquid, resembling water in many properties. It has physical properties very similar to water. It is an unstable compound and can release the nascent oxygen.

Complete answer: - Hydrogen peroxide is a liquid with pale blue color. It is slightly more viscous than water. Hydrogen peroxide is the odorless and colorless liquid. It tastes bitter. Its solubility is very high as it is soluble in water, alcohol and even in ether.
- It is used as an oxidized, bleaching agent and antiseptic.
- There is a property of hydrogen peroxide releasing the nascent oxygen and this nascent oxygen is used as a bleaching agent, this is due to the fact chemically, the hydrogen peroxide decomposes into water and oxygen. When the nascent oxygen reacts with coloring substance, the color gets oxidized.
- So, due to the oxidation of coloring matter by nascent oxygen it can be used as bleaching action.
- It can oxidize lead sulfide to lead sulfate and acidified ferrous to ferric sulphate.
- There is another property of acting as a reducing agent, because in the presence of stronger oxidizing agents it will take the oxygen from the oxidizing agent and will form the water and oxygen gas.

Note: Hydrogen peroxide is a very strong oxidizing agent, therefore, generally a concentration of only 3% in water is solid, this makes it much safer to handle, but still, and it slowly starts reacting with the water and gets decomposed. And in direct sunlight, decomposition occurs even faster. Therefore, it should be stored in cool places, in dark brown glass bottles.