I'm asking this on behalf of a friend that came to me with something that happened to him yesterday. He went swimming in his community pool in his neighborhood for the first time this year, and when he got home he had water in his ear. He got out some Hydrogen Peroxide (as he has done many times in the past) and put a few drops in his ear to help get the water out. He said he typically likes to use IPA, but didn't have any yesterday so went with H202.
A few minutes after putting the drops in his ear, his finger tips became white and started to burn. He felt like his finger prints were burning off. He then ran his hands under some water and washed them with soap for a few minutes and everything was better. No more stains or burning. Luckily, inside his ear didn't burn at all.
I told him to call the pool and see what they use to chlorinate, and he said they use Sodium Hypochlorite every Sunday night (so he was almost an entire week away from the last addition of that) and chlorine tabs during the week. They didn't specify between dichlor and trichlor tabs so I'm not sure there.
Does anybody know what might've happened to him? I know H202 can be used to reduce the chlorine in your pool, so was it possibly this reaction occurring on his finger tips? I've read that it is an exothermic reaction so that's the heat part I guess? And it produces salt so we have the white film. But I could be totally off. Maybe it wasn't even reacting with the chlorine but some other chemical in the pool. I know Calcium Hardness in water puts off a bunch of heat, but I'm not sure what it does with H202.
Any input from some of you chemistry gurus is appreciated. Thanks guys!
A few minutes after putting the drops in his ear, his finger tips became white and started to burn. He felt like his finger prints were burning off. He then ran his hands under some water and washed them with soap for a few minutes and everything was better. No more stains or burning. Luckily, inside his ear didn't burn at all.
I told him to call the pool and see what they use to chlorinate, and he said they use Sodium Hypochlorite every Sunday night (so he was almost an entire week away from the last addition of that) and chlorine tabs during the week. They didn't specify between dichlor and trichlor tabs so I'm not sure there.
Does anybody know what might've happened to him? I know H202 can be used to reduce the chlorine in your pool, so was it possibly this reaction occurring on his finger tips? I've read that it is an exothermic reaction so that's the heat part I guess? And it produces salt so we have the white film. But I could be totally off. Maybe it wasn't even reacting with the chlorine but some other chemical in the pool. I know Calcium Hardness in water puts off a bunch of heat, but I'm not sure what it does with H202.
Any input from some of you chemistry gurus is appreciated. Thanks guys!