H2O2 help

[futuredictator]

Hello, I know this is my first post, and I hope I don't get banned, I used the search but couldn't find an answer. I just dropped a chunk of my homemade iron oxide into a cup of h2o2 and the iron oxide began to fizz. Can anyone of higher intelligence please explain to me what exactly is happening in this reaction? thank you in advance.

[Cindor]

I think your Iron Oxide is acting as a catalyst in the decomp. of the Hydrogen Peroxide

[Rbick]

I would recommend reading this article (http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/esthag/1998/32/i10/abs/es970648k.html) for a complete explaination of why this is happening. This is an entire article of a study done on the same reaction. But what Cindor said is, in short, correct. Your Iron Oxide is a catalyst to the H2O2, causing it to release an oxygen atom and become water.

Just out of curiousity, what were your intentions of mixing Iron Oxide with H2O2? The Iron is already oxidized, and H2O2 is an oxidizer. If you want to make more Iron Oxide, you can do the old 5th grade experiment where you put an iron nail in some water and run an electrical current through it. Or you could put Fe in H2O2 and add a catalyst to speed the oxidation process, I think... Anway, just thought I would ask.