Why does an extra oxygen molecule make H2O2 caustic when H2O is, well, water?
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It is a balance. Atoms want naturally to have a number of electrons at certain levels called shells. The zero level is zero electrons, the first level is two electrons, and the second level is 8 electrons. Oxygen has 8 electrons, 2 for the first shell and only 6 for the second. To be stable, oxygen really wants two more electrons to be stable. Hydrogen has only 1 electron. In the case of H2O, the hydrogens give up their own electron to fill in the oxygen’s second shell, creating a molecule with 3 atoms at stable electron shells, 2 hydrogens at level 0 and 1 oxygen at level 2. In the case of H2O2, each hydrogen loans its electron to an oxygen but neither of the oxygen has enough electrons to be stable, each has 9 but wants 10. The closer an atom is to getting its desired number of electrons the more it wants to rip neighboring molecules apart so it can reach that stability. With H2O2, it is even more enhanced by the fact that there are 2 oxygens that desperately want just one more electron.
Literally first chemistry class. When elements react and form a molecule, the resulting substance is not a combination of the elements it was made of, but a new substance with new properties.
H2O2 is Not water. Even if it’s the same elements. It’s not the same amount of electrons and protons. It’s not the same reactivity.
Just a quick correction : Why does an extra oxygen ATOM make… Molecules are formed from atomes.
Water = molecule = H2O
Caustic = molecule = H2O2
Dioxygen = molecule = O2 (wrongly called oxygen as in oxygen we breath)
Dihydrogen = molecule = H2 (wrongly called Hydrogen as in hydrogen in atmosphere)
An atom alone (usually) does not exist in nature as it seeks strong connections with other atoms to form molecules. Different molecules (even if formed from same atoms) have different properties.
H2O is a nice stable chemical. It’s very happy being H20.
If you shove an extra oxygen atom on to it, it doesn’t like that. It wants to get rid of the extra oxygen atom and go back to being H2O.
Because it wants to get rid of the oxygen atom, if it comes into contact with a chemical that can accept a new oxygen atom, it will probably pass the oxygen atom across. This will change the other chemical. If the other chemical is part of your skin, that will hurt.
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