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Hydrogen peroxide is usually stored in a brown bottle away from sunlight because it spontaneously (but slowly) decomposes into O2 and water. In the brown bottle, the change in the free energy of activation (DeltaG+) is 18 kcal per mole. In the presence of a catalyst, the decomposition is much faster. For each decrease of 1.36 kcal per mole in the free energy of activation, the rate of reaction is ten times faster. In the presence of catalase, an enzyme found in the blood, the free energy of activation is 7 kcal per mole. In the presence of the inorganic catalyst platinum, it is 13 kcal per mole.
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