The bombardier beetle stores a binary chemical weapon in its abdomen and detonates it roughly five hundred times per second without cooking itself. Each of the paired pygidial glands is split into two compartments. The outer reservoir, wrapped in muscle, holds an aqueous mixture of hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide. The inner reaction chamber is thick walled, reinforced, and lined with catalases and peroxidases. Separated, the fuel is inert. Opened, the chemistry turns violent in under a millisecond. - Catalase decomposes hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen, releasing roughly 98 kJ per mole - Peroxidase drives the oxidation of hydroquinone into p-benzoquinone, a potent irritant - The combined enthalpy carries the charge to about 100 degrees Celsius and flashes part of the water to steam - Steam pressure expels the spray at an average of 11.6 metres per second through a turret the beetle aims over most of a sphere Hermann Schildknecht at Heidelberg identified the reagents in th...