Cu + H2O2

[The_simpsons]

I put a piece of copper metal in a solution of hydrogen peroxide, and its coming a lot of bubbles from the copper. so my question is, does the hydrogen peroxide oxidize the copper or does the copper catalyze the breakdown of peroxide to water and oxygen?

[insane_alien]

copper acts as a catalyst. the bubbles will be O2 the steam should have condensed back into water by the time it reaches the surface.

[The_simpsons]

okey, but the solution is a little bit bluish. on the other hand my foil of copper had a blackened surface of copper oxide after ive burned it before. could the peroxide have dissolved the oxide so it forms copper ions in the solution, hence the faint blue colour in the solution. plus the black parts are gone on the copper now. now its beautiful and shiny:)(If there is a more beautiful metal than copper, i don't wanna know it). does that theory sound plausible?

[woelen]

The blue color indeed is due to copper ions in solution. Cu(2+) ions are nice blue.

 

Your hydrogen peroxide apparently also contains some acid, otherwise you would not obtain a blue solution, not even if the copper metal was somewhat oxidized. Many commercial preparations of hydrogen peroxide contain some phosphoric acid as a stabilizer. Without stabilizer, hydrogen peroxide decomposes too fast to be stored for any length of time.