Hydrogen Peroxide and You
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a clear liquid, slightly more viscous than water, which, in dilute solutions, it appears colourless. The oxidizing capacity of hydrogen peroxide is so strong that it is considered a highly reactive oxygen species. Hydrogen peroxide is therefore used as a propellant in rocketry. In diluted concentrations hydrogen peroxide is also a useful and inexpensive bleaching and cleaning agent.
Here is a list of fourteen wonderful uses for Hydrogen Peroxide:
1. Whiten Your White Laundry
Pour in a cup of hydrogen peroxide into a washer load of white laundry instead of chlorine bleach and it will whiten your clothes. Don’t pour it directly on your clothes. It can fade out the color just like bleach does!
2. Sanitize Household Surfaces
Mix up a 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and tap water and pour it into a spray bottle. Use it to sanitize your kitchen counter tops, clean appliances and help keep your kitchen germ-free.
4. Bleach Your Hair
Diluted H2O2 (between 3% and 8%) is used to bleach human hair when mixed with ammonium hydroxide, hence the phrase “peroxide blonde”.
5. Make a Homemade Tooth Whitener
Swish a teaspoon full of 3% strength hydrogen peroxide in your mouth for five to ten minutes every day. It will kill harmful germs and bacteria. It will also act as a homemade tooth whitener!
6. Help Houseplants Grow Healthier
Mix up an ounce of hydrogen peroxide into a cup of water and spray your houseplants with this solution. It will help your houseplants grow greener and more lush.
7. Clean Up Cuts
Hydrogen Peroxide is useful for disinfecting wounds and to stop superficial bleeding. It is also effective at treating fresh blood-stains in clothing and on other items.
8. Remove Harmful Pesticides From Fruits and Veggies
Pour a fourth of a cup of hydrogen peroxide into a sink of cold tap water. Place your fruits and veggies in the solution and wash them off well. Then, rinse each piece off with tap water and dry.
9. Clear Up Skin Acne
Use a clean cotton ball to generously dab straight hydrogen peroxide onto skin acne two or three time a day. The peroxide will dry the problem up in no time at all.
10. Remove Waxy Build Up From Your Ears
Tilt your head and use an eye dropper to put three or four drops of hydrogen peroxide into the ear that has the waxy build up. Let it set for several minutes. Then, use a syringe and flush your ear out carefully with warm water. Dry your ear with a soft, clean cloth.
11. Keep Your Pet Fish Alive
Laboratory tests conducted by fish culturists in recent years have demonstrated that common household hydrogen peroxide can be used safely to provide oxygen for small fish. Hydrogen peroxide releases oxygen by decomposition when it is exposed tocatalysts such as manganese dioxide.
12. Control Sulphide in your Wastewater Treatment System
Hydrogen peroxide oxidizes the hydrogen sulfide and promotes bio-oxidation of organic odors. Hydrogen peroxide decomposes to oxygen and water, adding dissolved oxygen to the system, thereby negating some Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD).
13. Remove the Smell of Skunk
Mixed with baking soda and a small amount of hand soap, hydrogen peroxide is effective at removing skunk odor.
14. Etch on Your Circuit Board
Hydrogen peroxide can be combined with vinegar and table salt to form a substitute for industrial chemicals such as ferric chloride, ammonium persulfate, or hydrochloric acid as a hobbyist’s printed circuit board etchant.
