Question

What is hydrogen peroxide used for?

Answer 1

The main use of hydrogen peroxide is in the medical sector. Hydrogen peroxide has many medical uses and it works by releasing oxygen in the affected area.

Complete answer:
The chemical formula of hydrogen peroxide is ${{H}_{2}}{{O}_{2}}$. The colour of pure hydrogen peroxide is pale blue and it will be slightly more viscous than water. The simplest peroxide is hydrogen peroxide. In peroxide compounds, there is an oxygen-oxygen single bond.
Hydrogen peroxide is so unstable and even in the presence of light, it can slowly decompose forming nascent oxygen. Due to this reason, hydrogen peroxide is mainly stored in a stabilizer which contains a weakly acidic solution in a dark coloured bottle. They can also be found in the human body. The decomposition of hydrogen peroxide is given below:
${{H}_{2}}{{O}_{2}}\xrightarrow{\text{light}}{{H}_{2}}O+[O]$
The uses of hydrogen peroxide are given below:
- Hydrogen peroxide is used as an antiseptic, oxidizer and bleaching agent as well. The easy oxygen releasing property of hydrogen peroxide makes it useful for these purposes.
- High-test peroxide which is highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide. This is a very reactive oxygen species and it can be used as a propellant in the rocket.
- Hydrogen peroxide can both act as an oxidizing agent and a reducing agent. In a solution having lower pH, i.e. acidic solution, it acts as an oxidizing agent while in a solution having lower pH i.e. basic solution, it acts as a reducing agent.

Note:
The concentrated form of hydrogen peroxide i.e. the high test peroxide is a very strong oxidizer. It is put in the reaction chamber and a catalyst such as a platinum screen starts the decomposition and this can result in the production of steam over ${{600}^{\circ }}C$.