hydrogen peroxide
Meaning of hydrogen peroxide: Hydrogen peroxide is a reactive compound used as a household disinfectant and, in concentrated forms, as an industrial bleaching or oxidizing agent.
Definition of hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound made of hydrogen and oxygen that is more reactive than ordinary water because of an extra oxygen atom in its structure. This structure makes it an effective oxidizing agent, meaning it readily reacts with and breaks down other substances, including many microorganisms and pigments.
In diluted form, hydrogen peroxide is used as a household antiseptic and cleaning agent, where it can help clean minor wounds and surfaces, releasing oxygen bubbles as it breaks down in contact with certain enzymes and organic material. More concentrated forms are used industrially in bleaching, dye production, and manufacturing.
Because hydrogen peroxide becomes more chemically aggressive as its concentration increases, concentrated solutions are corrosive and irritating to skin and other tissue, while household strength solutions are generally mild by comparison, and hydrogen peroxide gradually breaks down into water and oxygen over time, including during ordinary storage.
Used in a sentence
The wound was cleaned with a diluted hydrogen peroxide solution.
Good to know
Hydrogen peroxide's effect ranges from a mild household antiseptic to a corrosive industrial chemical depending entirely on its concentration, so the same substance name can describe very different levels of hazard.
Word origin
Where “hydrogen peroxide” comes from
Formed from Greek hydor, meaning water, combined with -gen, meaning producing, and peroxide, from Latin per-, meaning thoroughly, and oxide, itself from Greek oxys, meaning sharp, the same root that names oxygen.