Question

What is the decomposition of hydroxide peroxide to generate oxygen?

Answer 1

Decomposition reaction can be characterized as a chemical reaction where one reactant separates into at least two products. We have to know that something contrary to a combination reaction is a decomposition reaction. We can write the general equation for decomposition reaction as,
$AB \to A + B$
Here, we can say that AB represents the parent reactant.
A and B are the products obtained from AB.

Complete step by step answer:
We saw that in decomposition reaction, one reactant gets broken down into products. It is very easy to identify a decomposition reaction because in these reactions, there would be only one reactant whereas the products obtained could be two.
Now coming back to the question, we will have to write the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to form the products.
So, in the decomposition reaction of hydrogen peroxide, the reactant is hydrogen peroxide and products obtained are oxygen and water.
We can write the decomposition reaction of hydrogen peroxide as,
${H_2}{O_2}\left( {aq} \right)\xrightarrow{{Mn{O_2}}}{H_2}O\left( l \right) + {O_2}\left( g \right)$
We can see that the above reaction is an unbalanced reaction. We need two moles of hydrogen peroxide in the reactant side and two moles of water in the product side to get a balanced reaction. We can write the balanced decomposition reaction of hydrogen peroxide as,
$2{H_2}{O_2}\left( {aq} \right)\xrightarrow{{Mn{O_2}}}2{H_2}O\left( l \right) + {O_2}\left( g \right)$
We can see that two moles of hydrogen oxide gets decomposed to form two moles of water with evolution of oxygen gas. In this reaction, $Mn{O_2}$ plays the role of catalyst to speed up the reaction.

Note: The other examples of decomposition reaction.
One classic example of decomposition reaction is decomposition reaction of water. In this reaction, water is reactant and it gets decomposed to form hydrogen (in gas state) and oxygen (in gas state). We can write the balanced chemical reaction as,
$2{H_2}O\left( l \right) \to 2{H_2}\left( g \right) + {O_2}\left( g \right)$
Another example of decomposition reaction is decomposition reaction of carbonic acid. In this reaction, carbonic acid is reactant and due to unstable nature it gets decomposed to form water and carbon dioxide. We can write the balanced chemical reaction as,
${H_2}C{O_3} \to {H_2}O + C{O_2}$