Make me happy, make me feel fine…
Actually, they sting a little. Can someone explain to my how hydrogen peroxide works? Why does it fizz when it comes into contact with infection? Why does it have the ability to lighten hair?
Hydrogen and Oxygen are two of the most caustic elements; they’ll combnie with anything, usually in what we would call a destructive way. H202, commonly known as Hydrogen Peroxide, is an extremely unstable liquid. When poured into an open wound, it eats anything tender and sensitive, which places it one step above cauterizing and just below splashing with rubbing alcohol on the list of ways not to treat injuries: all three cause more injury, cauterizing leaves scars, peroxide takes forever (you need to leave it on for several minutes to kill most of the bugs), and alcohol stings like the dickens.
Current first aid theory calls for washing gently with warm water and MILD soap, and then applying antibiotic ointment from one of those little one-use squeeze packs, rather than from a tube that’s been sitting in your first aid kit for two years.
I just retook my first aid certification class; hydrogen peroxide and tubes of antibiotic ointment both get contaminated within a couple weeks after you open them.
Oh, and as for the OP… I’d guess that it fizzes because either the Hydrogen or the Oxygen is dumping the other in favor of something tasty it found to grab hold of, and the liberated gas is going out into the world in search of adventure.
Thanks, Ethilrist. Intersting stuff.
I had no idea you’re not supposed to use it on scrapes, though I can’t remember the last time I did. I do use it to clean my earrings, though, once they’re out. I will be careful from now own to only buy small amounts and replenish my supply often.
Hydrogen peroxide decomposes into water and oxygen gas (which makes the bubbles) when it comes in contact with your tissues because there’s an enzyme your body makes called catalase that catalyzes the reaction. Some people have a genetic condition that causes them to lack catalase, so hydrogen peroxide doesn’t bubble on their cuts.
Peroxide does not “eat anything tender and sensitive,” and is not “one step above cauterizing.” It produces oxygen in high enough concentrations to be toxic to bacteria, and is probably directly toxic to bacteria itself, and that’s why it’s used for disinfection.
But you should only use it on a new cut to intially clean, because subsequent treatments during healing process will not only work against the bugs but also new tissue.
Here’s a nifty little explanation of the process that takes place when you put hydrogen peroxide on a cut:
As far as the hair bleaching thing goes, a hairdresser friend of mine told me that hydrogen peroxide’s release of its second oxygen molecule (the oxidation process) is also what lightens hair. It apparently causes the displacement/diffusion of the melanin in hair, which makes it look lighter.
Hydrogen peroxide also kicks butt on getting blood out of colorfast fabrics.