In the chemical formula of hydrogen peroxide( H2O2) why does both the 2 does not get canceled?
Answer:
HO may be the empirical formula but the molecular formula is H2O2 because there is a bond between O an O :
H - O - O - H
Because its a balanced molecular structure...
because single atom molecules of oxygen don't normally exist.
in water (H20) there are two H molecules attached to one oxygen molecule. thats why fish can breathe it. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is like a bleach used to colour hair. It has 2 compounds of H and 2 for O
It is H2O2, for the reasons mentioned above
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hydrogen_pe...
its H2O2 because if there were only one H and one O, then it wouldn't be a peroxide, which menas that it has to have an oxygen bonding to an oxygen, like so:
H-O-O-H
This is due to the arrangement of electrons of the elements. Hyrdrogen has 1 electron in its 1 and only outer shell. Oxygen has 6 electrons in its outer shell. Both Hydrogen atoms need to gain an electron each to become chemically inert (unreactive) and resemble Helium. Both Oxygen atoms need to gain two electrons to become inert and Resemble Neon. If you have HO and not H2O2, then the Oxygen atom is one electron short, as each of the two Oxygen atoms share electrons with each other AND a Hydrogen atom each. If you are still confused, the message me and I will try to send you a diagram-aided answer.
H2 O2 is shorthand notation for HOOH. If you canceled the 2s, you would have the negative ion OH.
It might be helpful to you if you recognized that all this notation is a shorthand for more complex things. The notation does help you to understand what is going on.
You mean why H2O2 is not written as 2HO? If that is the question, here is the answer:
HO is same as OH and represents the Hydroxide radical. Like NaOH, KOH etc. The properties of OH and H2O2 are totally different.
So, we need to keep the symbols different.
Thte second oxygen molecule is "free" the first part of the formula is water, and the hydrogen molecules will hold the oxygen molecule but the "free" oxygen molecule is very unstable and will leave at the slightest opportunity. Because oxygen is very flammable as a gas they use hydrogen peroxide for bomb making, rocket fuel and so on, because the extra oxygen wishes to escape just leaving water.
hydrogen peroxide is a stable compound
OH is a radical and does not show the peroxide effect
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