Blind Angel
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Blood as a Catlysor?!
This could seem a silly idea but my science teacher told me that blood was a really good catalysor. Anyone has more info on this, just by curiosity.
(she also told me to try to put some in phosphoric acid and see what happen)
/}/_//|//) /-\\/|//¬/=/_
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DeusExMachina
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hmmmm.... I don't think so... and I also don't know about the H3O4P part
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madscientist
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What is it supposed to catalyze, though?
I weep at the sight of flaming acetic anhydride.
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Ramiel
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Put a little of yourself into everything you do and you might be surprised by the results.
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I am a fish
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Your teacher was probably refering to the fact that blood contains catalase, an enzyme that catalyses the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide.
Never the less, unless you fancy branching into amateur phlebotomy, I'd stick to manganese dioxide. 
Chris
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Blind Angel
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I Am A Fish thank for the good answer, that make sense. But wouldn't these catalysing capacity could be harness to be usefull?
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I am a fish
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Adding moderately concentrated (e.g. 100 vol) H2O2 to blood makes for an interesting (and disgusting) demonstration. For Health and Safety reasons,
it is now done using fake blood with catalase added.
Other than this, I can't see much use for blood as a chemical reagent.
(note that Catalase if found in virtually all organisms - another suitable souce for the above demonstration is yeast)
Chris
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Yi
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IIRC Blood (well Heamoglobin) can act as a catalyst for luminol in chemiluminescent reactions. Hence luminol is also used in detecting blood that has
been washed away at murder investigations.
If I have time I'll dig out instructions for a demonstration of the reaction.
--
Yi
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vulture
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The luminol reaction is because of the Fe in the haeme group of hemoglobin.
I guess there are more chelated metals in blood too.
One shouldn't accept or resort to the mutilation of science to appease the mentally impaired.
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Levi
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If you're not a masochist you can also use a freshly cut potato slice to catalyze H2O2 decomp. I believe the responsible catalyst is
catalase here as well. Bubbles are evolved quickly from OTC 3% hydrogen peroxide. Remember, don't let the bubbles go to waste! A little volatile
hydrocarbon on top and a lit match makes a very nice woosh.
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vulture
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| Quote: |
Remember, don't let the bubbles go to waste! |
Such a magnificent thing to say!  And only a chemist will value it.
One shouldn't accept or resort to the mutilation of science to appease the mentally impaired.
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Pyridinium
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Heme-bound iron has some catalytic activity in certain reactions. If you want to test this, don't bother sticking yourself with a needle... just buy
some raw, red meat and collect the "meat juice" (diluted blood).
You could use red meat itself, but any observed catalytic action could be arising from the enzymes that are still somewhat active in refrigerated
meat.
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