If you've ever poured hydrogen peroxide solution onto a cut and didn't experience the expected fizz, it's likely your bottle of hydrogen peroxide has become a bottle of plain water. The 3% hydrogen peroxide solution you can buy for use as a disinfectant typically has a shelf life of at least a year if the bottle is unopened, but only lasts 30-45 days once the seal has been broken. As soon as you expose the peroxide solution to air, it starts to react to form water. Also, if you contaminate the bottle (e.g., by dipping a swab or finger into the bottle), you can expect the effectiveness of the remaining liquid to be compromised.
So, if you have a bottle of hydrogen peroxide that has been sitting in your medicine cabinet for a few years, it would be a good idea to replace it. If you've opened the bottle at any point, its activity is long-gone. If you feel like testing the solution. Solvay Chemicals describes a test you can perform to assess the remaining activity.
Comments
It is true potency of hydrogem peroxide solution is going down slowly. It is a good practice for writing the date on the bottle label when you open the bottle and start to use it.
I know that glycerin is an inhibitor to the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide,can it be added to improve it storage life?
At home, wouldn’t it be simpler to just apply hydrogen peroxide to an object or area that is known to be contaminated with bacteria (to test it)?
If I pour a little down the bathroom sink drain, I always hear it fizzing down there.
It doesn’t completely lose all of its zip that quickly, after two years I have used an opened bottle to apply a bit of it to a rash (between thighs from walking) and felt the sting of it as it disinfected the chafed area
to say that shelf life reacting to 1ml of air or tons of air is the same 30-45days is rediculous, if u break the seal & 1ml of air gets in & is reasealed (capped tight) It will last for at least 10times that. Its easy to test pooring it on something anyone can see.
hey kid, whats up? u guys ever talk about anything but school, come on man, i’m a high school student too, 9th grade. Anyways aj i think ur right it can last for at least 10times that.
fire and ice
some say the world would end in fire, some say in ice from what i’ve tasted if desire i hold with those who favor fire, but if i had to perish twice, i think i know enough of hate to say that for distraction,
ice,
is also great
this is a poem from eclipse, (the twilight saga)
I’m no expert, nor a scientist. From experience, I can tell you that a bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide, purchase long ago and opened at least 4 years ago, is still effective in removing blood stains from clothing & rugs…just did it last week. I’m not trying to be cheap, it’s just the only bottle I had, and I didn’t have time to get a new bottle before the stains set. I suspect that the earlier comment about rapid decomposition, once opened, is correct IF THE TOP IS NOT QUICKLY AND FIRMLY REPLACED.
…But I’m going to get a new bottle today.
Hey “Kiram”, do your homework. That poem, Fire and Ice, was written by Robert Frost, and you mis-quoted it — “Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.”
I recently applied some peroxide from a 2 year old bottle (previously opened) to a paper cut on a finger. When I removed the Band-Aid a couple of days later, there was a white film on the area. Plain water would not leave this film so I suspect the peroxide WAS still active, although perhaps weakened. 30-45 days ? I don’t buy that.