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Topic: Hydrogen peroxide and Clorox regular bleach  (Read 36869 times)

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Hydrogen peroxide and Clorox regular bleach
« on: November 08, 2009, 12:28:50 PM »
Hi
As far as I can tell, this hasn't been posted before, sorry if I missed something.

I was wondering if anyone here could tell me what chemicals would be produced by mixing Clorox regular bleach (no scents and other crap) with hydrogen peroxide?

I know that this reaction would/should occur:

H2O2 + NaClO  ::equil:: H2O + NaCl + O2

But I'm not sure  what else would happen.

Here are the ingredients that I found listed:
Water
Sodium hypochlorite
Sodium chloride
Sodium carbonate
Sodium hydroxide
Sodium polyacrylate

thanks in advance

Offline cth

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Re: Hydrogen peroxide and Clorox regular bleach
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2009, 01:33:43 PM »
This should be OK. Still a few points to add:
- The biggest risk with bleach is the release of Cl2 gas, which is very toxic. It happens when the pH of the solution becomes too acidic. So, whatever you do, never add acid into bleach.
- In your case, you're adding an oxidant. I wonder if there is a risk to produce NaClO4. Perchlorates anions ClO4- can be explosive when they are dry. So, you should not let all the water evaporate. If necessary, you can add more water.
- Similarly, every peroxide is explosive when dry. But in the case of hydrogen peroxide, it shouldn't be a problem.

To summarise: no acid and not going dry. And it should be fine.

If I may ask, why do you want to do? Producing oxygen and NaCl?  :P

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Re: Hydrogen peroxide and Clorox regular bleach
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2009, 03:30:03 PM »
Mostly, what I'd like to do is make sure that only O2 is being produced, and no harmful gases.  I was thinking that as long as none of the chemicals produced are dangerous gases it might be a bit of a laugh if I could have my own mini oxygen bar, and if I could make sure that nothing other than O2 is produced, I'm sure I could do all sorts of fun things with it.

I've tried this before, since I read that the reaction listed above should happen, and it seemed reasonable.  But at the same time, I wasn't sure that I wouldn't end up with something other than oxygen, so I avoided breathing in the gas(es) that was/were produced.

I have some pH paper lying around, so I think I'll have a look at the pH of the mixture that's left over to see if that gives any useful information.

Also, if this is at all helpful, here's how the reaction goes down (when using about a tablespoon of each):
As soon as the two liquids are mixed, large bubbles start forming rapidly, but this doesn't go on for long.  The reaction usually goes on at a much slower pace for the next 30 seconds or so.  Any gas(es) that form have no apparent colour.  It seems as though the reaction is very slightly exothermic, but the resulting mixture is probably at about 31 C, as it feels similar to water being used to start off yeast.

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Re: Hydrogen peroxide and Clorox regular bleach
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2009, 03:50:23 PM »
So, I just tested the pH with unfortunately rather limited pH paper (range is 5.5 to 8.0), but the end result is most definitely basic, with a pH of at least 8.0.

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Re: Hydrogen peroxide and Clorox regular bleach
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2009, 05:24:59 PM »
I've just done some playing around and discovered that if the resulting liquid is boiled down (with a fume hood of sorts) it leaves behind a brownish-yellowish substance which has crystals similar to NaCl (although it is more easily powdered) and which smells slightly like chlorine.  When burned, this leftover solid turns the flame the same shade of orange as NaCl.

Offline nj_bartel

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Re: Hydrogen peroxide and Clorox regular bleach
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2009, 07:36:24 PM »
bubble the gas through water then take the pH of the water.  Then let the water sit out in the sunlight, and take the pH again.  (Use a clear bottle with a cap).  If in the first case the water is appreciably acidic, you probably are making HCl.  If in the second case the water is appreciably acidic (but it wasn't the first time), you're probably making chlorine.

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Re: Hydrogen peroxide and Clorox regular bleach
« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2009, 08:28:38 PM »
How would you suggest bubbling the gas through water?  I could probably put something together, but I don't really have any tools specifically designed for such things.

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Re: Hydrogen peroxide and Clorox regular bleach
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2009, 08:55:50 PM »
Take a water bottle cap, a narrow piece of hose, a metal rod, and a lighter.  Heat up the metal rod, insert it into the bottle cap, then pull it out and immediately force the hose in (the melted hole should be slightly smaller than the hose).  Then superglue around the hose.  Set up your reaction in a water bottle, screw on cap, put hose into a container with water.

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