Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Ca(OH)2 + H2O2 --> ?

guy - 14-4-2004 at 22:58

What does Calcium hydroxide and H2O2 make? I've done it and lots of bubbles form, and the calcium turns yellow. What is the "yellow calcium"?

Pyrovus - 15-4-2004 at 01:26

H2O2 is quite unstable in alkaline solution, so your bubbles come from the reaction 2H2O2 -> H2O +O2. I'm not too sure about the yellow colour though - how pure is your calcium hydroxide?

guy - 15-4-2004 at 10:31

It should be 99-100% pure

The_Davster - 15-4-2004 at 13:08

I seem to remember reading a patent a while ago which involved adding H2O2 to a zinc hydroxide solution in ammonia to yield zinc peroxide. This could have been what happened to you, except the calcium analog. You may have made calcium peroxide:o. I'm not 100% sure on this though.

blip - 15-4-2004 at 15:12

Undoubtedly much of your H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> decomposed, but some may have formed CaO<sub>2</sub> due to its relative insolubility (said to be insoluble in the reference doc). It is described as being "White or yellowish powder". If you did this in a covered container so that dust could not enter and the container couldn't somehow break down in any way like a cheap cup might, then some possibilities are eliminated. I once tried this, but I was unable to continue when the froth began pouring out of the container and I had to dump it out in the sink. :(
http://www.chem-world.com/pdf/calcium-peroxide-msds.pdf

The_Davster - 15-4-2004 at 20:12

I tried this reaction with sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide. I got some bubbling, the beaker heated up a bit, I left it for a while and now, I have a crystaline precipitate. Could this be sodium peroxide.:o I sort of doubt that it is because I remember reading that sodium peroxide reacts with water to give concentrated H2O2, so I probally just have some sodium hydroxide that re-crystallized that was only soluble when the beaker heated up.:(