Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogo bomb here with a classic podcast episode for you. This one turns to chemistry and history to answer and everyday question. Why are hydrogen peroxide bottles opaque? Brown of all colors? Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogo bomb here. What do you get when you combine two molecules of hydrogen and two molecules of oxygen? Well, you get H
two O two. More commonly known as hydrogen peroxide. Used in all kinds of industries from food processing to papermaking, two textiles to electronics, peroxide is a great disaffecting and bleaching agent. It's clear and colorless, and when poured over an open wound, peroxide will kill many types of microorganisms. It's also an extremely stable compound when properly stored, which is why when you buy hydrogen peroxide it usually comes
in a brown plastic bottle. Here's why. Many semical compounds break down over time, and hydrogen peroxide is no exception. Although it is extremely stable, the solution can start to decompose when it comes in contact with light and heat. The brown bottle in your medicine cabinet is a bulwark against those two catalysts. Light cannot penetrate the tint of the brown bottle, preventing oxidation, which you want to prevent because it can result in an increase in temperature. As
peroxide breaks down, it gets hotter. As a result, the compounds decomposition rate accelerates. In fact, for every ten degree fahrenheit rise in temperature, the decomposition rate nearly doubles, meaning that around seventy two degrees fahrenheit that's about twenty two celsius, it decomposes at a rate of one percent per year. But if it got up to one fifty one degrees fahrenheit that's about sixty six celsius, it would be decomposing
at a rate of one percent per week. By the time it hit the boiling point of water, it would be going at nearly two percent per day. Moreover, some sort of contaminants such as dust, silver, lead, or another metal, gets into the solution, it can spark a fire. Although the solution itself is not explosive, those in the industry must handle hydrogen peroxide with care. If the solution is in a closed system, such as a storage tank and it starts to break down, pressure can build up, causing
the tank or a pipe or line to rupture. The good news is that the bottle of peroxide in your medicine cabinet only contains about a three solution, far less than that the food industry uses. For example. You may also notice the peroxide never comes in a clear glass container. That's because glass bottles may contain dissolved alkali metal ions that can react with the solution. Today's episode is based on the article why does hydrogen peroxide come in a
brown bottle? On how supworks dot com written by John Parentano. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com and as produced by Tyler Crying and Ramsey. Out four more podcasts from my heart Radio, Visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite show. H