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Is Hydrogen Peroxide an Oxidizer

On whether hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizing agent
There is a name for hydrogen peroxide in the world. Its characteristics are specific, and it plays a role in various reactions. There are different opinions. When studying its essence, whether it is an oxidizing agent should be considered in detail.

The oxidizing agent can oxidize other things during chemical reactions, and the substance itself is reduced. Looking at the reaction of hydrogen peroxide, it is often seen that it grabs electrons from other things and increases the valence of other things, which is exactly the characteristic of oxidizing agents.

Try to show by example that if it encounters ferrous ions, ferrous ions are originally positive divalent. After encountering hydrogen peroxide, their valence rises to positive trivalent, which is the appearance of being oxidized. In this process, the valence of hydrogen peroxide itself decreases, from the original negative valence to the negative divalence, which means that it is reduced. From this perspective, hydrogen peroxide oxidizes ferrous ions and reduces itself, showing that it has the ability of an oxidizing agent.

Furthermore, from the structural analysis of hydrogen peroxide, the oxygen element in its molecule is negative monovalent, and the valence state is unstable, and there is a tendency to tend to be more stable negative divalent. Therefore, under suitable conditions, it is easy to obtain electrons and reduce the valence, thus exhibiting the characteristics of oxidizing other substances.

However, it is also said that in some special reaction environments, hydrogen peroxide does not seem to show the properties of an oxidizing agent. In fact, this is due to the different reaction conditions, resulting in a change in the mechanism of hydrogen peroxide participating in the reaction. For example, in a system with a strong oxidant, hydrogen peroxide or anti-oxidation, at this time it acts as a reducing agent. But this is only a special case, and it cannot deny its essence as an oxidizing agent under normal conditions.

In summary, hydrogen peroxide has the properties of oxidizing other substances and reducing itself under normal conditions, which is a veritable oxidizing agent. Although there are occasional special reactions with different performance, its essence cannot be ignored because of this.