I just wanted to post about the recent "peroxide" talk I've read about the bombing plot in the UK. I only know what I have read (briefly) today, but wanted to tell you what I know about peroxide:

3% is the stuff you buy at the pharmacist's (chemist's) good for cleaning wounds, mouth pain, etc. It's also the active ingredient in "chemical" cleaner for contact lenses.

20% is what they use to dye dark colored hair, like for a grey cover-up (wouldn't know

30% is what they use on dark hair to dye it blonde

Anything over 80% is used in industrial-scale chemical reactions. When I worked in industry, we typically used 93% hydrogen peroxide (two decades ago). It is a cheap chemical, made with water as a raw material.

It was also far too unstable and caused a couple of explosion scares at our polymer plants, so we switched to other catalysts/initiators.

I am talking about hydrogen peroxide. The stuff you see in a commercial/retail setting is nothing compared to the stuff we used to have. We kept it chilled so it wouldn't just go up on its own. It's nasty, nasty stuff, but it is a clear water-looking liquid in any concentration. It is very sensitive to impurities, so when you get dirt in your storage container, watch out!

There are a bunch of different peroxides out there, it's a broad class of chemicals characterized by an oxygen bonded to another oxygen. Most peroxides are unstable.

Some are used in hair care products, some in ear wax thinner, and I'm sure any number of other places. In low concentrations.

I swear if the people that are plotting to kill innocents would put their resourcefulness just to make their point into, say, curing cancer, we wouldn't have any disease issues left on this planet.

Hug your loved ones tight tonight and thank your favorite benefactor that these people were caught before they killed hundreds or even thousands.

Again.

MTFBWY.

EDIT: Negativity will not be tolerated in the responses. I have personal feelings about the whole Middle East situation, as I'm sure we all do.

I strongly support Israel and live 2 miles from a very large Mosque, so I have friends on both sides of this issue. I respect the opinions of others even when I don't agree with them, so please maintain decorum here.

I'd really rather discuss chemistry

PPS: I added this as an edit rather than a comment to leave open space:

Here's my stock Eepy bird link. 200 liters of diet Coke and a bunch of Mentos.

Here is a good explanation of what is happening.. The only thing I would add is that Diet Coke works better because it has lower density than the sugar version. The same sweetness of sugar weighs A LOT more than the NutraSweet (we did demos in Junior Highs showing this difference back when I was working). Since the Diet version is less dense, the Mentos sink faster in Diet Coke.

Finally, the mess is a lot less with diet. Oy the mess with the sugar version! It would feed the neighborhood ants for weeks!