[GovernmentShrinker]

This sounds implausible to me. Highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide is a favorite explosives ingredient of terrorists, but I have a lot of trouble believing that the quantities and concentrations of hydrogen peroxide that a teenage hairdresser would have any legitimate business carrying around in her car, could cause an explosion of this magnitude. Hydrogen peroxide-based hair bleaches are sold in drugstores everywhere for home use, and stored/used in cramped little hair salons everywhere -- you'd think there would have been a serious explosion long before now if they were capable of this.

Any FReepers with serious knowledge of explosives chemistry care to weigh in?

[Choose Ye This Day]

Smoking kills.

[rickmichaels]

Was her name Mohammedette?

[Touch Not the Cat]

.
Just D-mn!

[cripplecreek]

What most of us think about hydrogen peroxide comes in a bottle and is something like .01% hydrogen peroxide.

[ClearCase_guy]

Not a lot of detail so it's hard to know what happened. I see two basic scenarios:

1) The Hydrogen Peroxide ignites in a massive ball of flames which is seen for miles and which results in instant death for the young woman. (This seems implausible.

2) The smoker is startled by the sudden experience of some flames coming from her back seat. As she turns around to deal with these pesky flames, she drives into an oak tree, resulting in her death.

One never knows.

[OldDeckHand]

"but I have a lot of trouble believing that the quantities and concentrations of hydrogen peroxide that a teenage hairdresser would have any legitimate business carrying around in her car"

You have a point. OTOH, the peroxide concentrations found in professional hair salons, can be VERY explosive. The concentration of peroxide found in these professional supplies is MUCH greater than what is available OTC, here in the states.

In fact, I believe to purchase such supplies here, one needs a cosmetology license, and I also think records of purchases are also kept for the sales of these products. I don't know what the law is in the UK.

[kaylar]

More detailed UK article from the Daily Mail, Lots of reader comments and a few photos

[dennisw]

It could be that some hair salons order the concentrated form of H2O2 that is 35% and used in the food industry. The salons making their own diluted formulations with the 35% H2O2

[GnuHere]

Dang, that stinks.

[blam]

This is as bad as another story I read.

Someone put dry ice in a container in the back seat of the car and went on a long trip. The melting dry ice (CO2) depleted the O2 in the car and the driver passed out and died in an auto accident.

Think about what you're doing.

[Lera]

More to this than the story is telling.
Before they passed around all the anti smoking laws hair dressers and their customers used to smoke like crazy around this stuff.

[P-Marlowe]

Hydrogen peroxide, either in pure or diluted form, can pose several risks:

• Explosive vapors. Above roughly 70% concentrations, hydrogen peroxide can give off vapor that can detonate above 70 °C (158 °F) at normal atmospheric pressure.^{[citation needed]} This can then cause a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) of the remaining liquid. Distillation of hydrogen peroxide at normal pressures is thus highly dangerous.
• Hazardous reactions. Hydrogen peroxide vapors can form sensitive contact explosives with hydrocarbons such as greases. Hazardous reactions ranging from ignition to explosion have been reported with alcohols, ketones, carboxylic acids (particularly acetic acid), amines and phosphorus.^{[citation needed]}
• Spontaneous ignition. Concentrated hydrogen peroxide, if spilled on clothing (or other flammable materials), will preferentially evaporate water until the concentration reaches sufficient strength, at which point the material may spontaneously ignite.^[38][39]

[editor-surveyor]

Something definitely wrong here.

The peroxide allowed for cosmethic purposes is limited to 3% in aqueous solution. That won’t blow no matter what you do with it.

They better keep on investigating.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Well I don’t have ‘explosives’ knowledge...but I do have ‘hair’ knowledge and, just a guess here, that if she was using peroxide its NOT the type you get in the drug store (which is less than 1% solution). Professional ‘grade’ is 8 to 10 percent; but can go as high as 40 (for very coarse, dark hair lightening—put it absolutely would fry the hair).

My guess, that she had MORE in her car (as a stylist) (hair spray; gel; acrylics for nails; etc.) and that the collective assemblage of products caused the fire (started by the cigarette).

[blam]

We used hydrogen peroxide and sulfuric acid to clean wafers when making chips. You talk about a gawd awful combination...you could wave a piece of paper over the fumes and it would ignite.

[spunkets]

You’re right. The peroxide did not explode, even if it was the 20% stuff.

[livius]

It’s horrible, but I think it’s just one of those bizarre accidents. People get killed by having their acetone nail polish remover catch fire from something you wouldn’t even think would be hot enough; some of these substances are much more volatile than you’d expect, and most of us are just lucky!

[Viking2002]

Fitting that the Darwin Award is named after a Brit.

"Here, hold me hair dryer, love, an' watch this........." *PA-WOOF!*

[Bean Counter]

I’m no scientist, and I do not play one on TV, but hydrogen peroxide is not flammable, so a cigarette could not have ignited it. Hydrogen Peroxide is an extremely strong oxidizer, and if it comes into contact with organic material it can have an extremely strong reaction.

In fact, you could not use hydrogen peroxide above a certain strength on human hair, because hair is organic too, and you would have that same strong reaction.

A number of things are not right about this one...

[ronnyquest]

I’ve dealt a little with explosives, so let me propose a theory or two.

The hot cherry of a lit cigarette could possibly have blown into the back seat and ignited the material soaked in peroxide. The flame could then have caused an explosion of the car’s fuel tank or, somewhat more likely, traveled into the peroxide container and, due to the velocity of the expanding gas, caused an explosion, which might then have ignited the fuel tank to cause the “real” explosion.

Similar to igniting a metal gas can; it will explode if done properly.