I was doing a lab the other day...?

Question

when I think I touched something on my finger and felt a burning/stinging sensation. I looked at my finger and it was a powdery white in the area that was touched. I tried to wash it off with water, but it wouldn't come off.

At around halfway through my next class, I looked down and the powdery stuff was gone. My hand was a little sweaty because I kept it bunched up in a fist.

Anyways, nothing serious happened, but I want to know what I touched and why that happened.

I was working with some chemicals: hydrogen peroxide and manganese dioxide. Those were the only chemicals at the time. I think it might have been the manganese dioxide...

Answer 1

I suggest it was the hydrogen peroxide. Peroxide "bleaches" skin white just as it bleaches hair. No harm done. The bleached skin cells wore away as the day wore away.