Hydrogen Peroxide: The Body's Best Defence System
How does that happen? A foam forms when bubbles of a gas are trapped in a liquid or solid. In this case oxygen is generated when hydrogen peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water on contact with catalase, an enzyme found in liver.
What is Hydrogen Peroxide?
Hydrogen peroxide is a colorless compound which is usually produced as aqueous solutions of different strengths. Hydrogen peroxide is eco-friendly, non-corrosive compound. Due to less aggressive effect hydrogen peroxide on fabric dyes, it is extensively used as bleaching agents. Hydrogen peroxide is also utilized as oxidizer and antiseptic. Hydrogen peroxide is produced by hydrolysis of ammonium persulfate. Hydrogen peroxide is also applied for the bleaching process of wood pulp, rocket propellant, etc. Industries such as pulp and paper, healthcare, personal care, food processing, textile, etc. has wide application for hydrogen peroxide.
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Uses of hydrogen peroxide
The bleaching properties of hydrogen peroxide are used in many industries. Perhaps its most familiar day-to-day use is in proprietary products used in washing clothes, for example in some forms of VanishTM. Large quantities of hydrogen peroxide are used to make sodium perborate and sodium percarbonate, which are used as bleaching agents in liquid and solid detergents. Sodium perborate, NaBO3.4H2O, is made by adding hydrogen peroxide to a solution of sodium metaborate and sodium hydroxide. Sodium percarbonate is prepared by adding hydrogen peroxide to a solution of sodium carbonate.
Enzymes are special protein molecules that speed up chemical reactions. But why should liver contain an enzyme that helps degrade hydrogen peroxide? Because hydrogen peroxide actually forms as a product of metabolism and can do some nasty things. It can break apart to yield hydroxyl radicals that attack important biochemicals like proteins and DNA. To protect itself, the body makes catalase, the enzyme that decomposes hydrogen peroxide before it can form hydroxyl radicals.