It's a question on my assiment in biology and i don't know the awnser...HELP!!!
2006-10-01 06:39:27 · 5 answers · asked by BreeADV 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
It draws and concentrates the oxygen. The oxygen is actually what causes the response.
2006-10-01 06:41:10 · answer #1 · answered by Shayna 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is something you can buy at the drug store. What you are buying is a 3-percent solution, meaning the bottle contains 97-percent water and 3-percent hydrogen peroxide. Most people use it as an antiseptic. It turns out that it is not very good as an antiseptic, but it is not bad for washing cuts and scrapes and the foaming looks cool.
The reason why it foams is because blood and cells contain an enzyme called catalase. Since a cut or scrape contains both blood and damaged cells, there 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 efficiently -- 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 little hydrogen peroxide on a cut potato and it will do the same thing for the same reason -- catalase in the damaged potato cells reacts with the hydrogen peroxide.
Hydrogen peroxide does not foam in the bottle or on your skin because there is no catalase to help the reaction to occur. Hydrogen peroxide is stable at room temperature
2006-10-01 13:47:44 · answer #2 · answered by MARY L 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hydrogen peroxide is chemical compound containing two oxygen atoms, each of which is bonded to hydrogen. In hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, the atoms are joined together in the chain like structure H-O-O-H. It can easily be bought over the counter, in the form of a 3% aqueous solution intended for use as an antiseptic. When pour on the skin the unstable oxygen separates and escaping to the atmosphere appears as a foam. It reacts with the bacterias and keel them by oxidation.
2006-10-01 13:50:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
maybe it foams because it is killing the germs??? go to ask.com and type that in.
2006-10-01 13:41:16 · answer #4 · answered by lovely 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ITS KILLING THE GERMS......
2006-10-01 13:40:45 · answer #5 · answered by Do I know you? ya right LoL 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋