A commonly known chemical compound is hydrogen peroxide. All peroxides have two oxygen atoms attached to each other, making them highly reactive and often flammable and explosive.
A commonly known chemical compound is hydrogen peroxide. All peroxides have two oxygen atoms attached to each other, making them highly reactive and often flammable and explosive. They are used for everything from whitening teeth and hair, to cleaning wounds and even as rocket fuel. But peroxides are also found in the air surrounding us.
In recent years, there has been speculation as to whether trioxides – chemical compounds with three oxygen atoms attached to each other, and thereby even more reactive than the peroxides – are found in the atmosphere as well. But until now, it has never been unequivocally proven.
"This is what we have now accomplished," says Professor Henrik Grum Kjærgaard, at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Chemistry. Kjærgaard is the senior author of the study, just published in the prestigious journal, Science.
Read more at: University of Copenhagen
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