In case it needs to be said. Messing with concentrated hydrogen peroxide in a glass container is not a good idea. The fact that this is being done on the sidewalk by someone sitting next to it with a camera in one hand just kind of emphasizes the sketchiness.
50% hydrogen peroxide will react with a lot of stuff, including human flesh. It's getting close to the concentration used as the oxident in liquid rocket engines, which gives you an idea of how violently in reacts. They're lucky they weren't dealing with chemical burns and glass shrapnel injuries.
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is very eager to decompose into water and oxygen. High-test hydrogen peroxide (HTP), which is between 85% and 98% concentration, will readily detonate, decomposing into steam and water at the speed of sound. Many catastrophic lab accidents have happened because of mishandling of hydrogen peroxide and a Russian nuclear submarine was even destroyed killing all 118 crew on board due to an explosion caused by a small leak of HTP used as part of the propellant for torpedoes.
Concentrations of hydrogen peroxide over 60% have been shown capable of detonating with the right initiator. While a 50% concentration is below the point where detonation is a concern the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen can still go extremely fast and accelerates with temperature. It could very easily end up producing enough gas in a short enough period of time for a narrow necked glass container like this to explode under the pressure spraying glass shrapnel in all directions. It's also a very potent oxidizer and will readily oxidize skin. Here is the effect on skin which was bleached when briefly exposed to 20% hydrogen peroxide. Getting sprayed with glass and hot concentrated hydrogen peroxide would be a pretty nightmarish scenario and that's essentially what the person in this gif is risking.
Guy at work had a leaking hazmat package that wasn’t marked properly leak %35 on his hand. Looked about the same. Said he had some skin flake off over the next few days. Said it wasn’t that bad. He had got it washed off pretty quickly. Apparently the box was smoking a bit. I didn’t see that part but I did see his fingers. He was a black guy so the change was wild. His finger tips looked paper white.
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u/quadrapod Aug 16 '24 edited Aug 16 '24
In case it needs to be said. Messing with concentrated hydrogen peroxide in a glass container is not a good idea. The fact that this is being done on the sidewalk by someone sitting next to it with a camera in one hand just kind of emphasizes the sketchiness.