OZONE; JUST ANOTHER FORM OF OXYGEN

Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive pale-blue gas with a penetrating odor. Ozone is an allotropic
modification of oxygen. An allotrope is a variation of an element that posseses a set of
physical and chemical properties significantly different from the normal form of the
element. Only a few elements have allotropic forms; oxygen,phosporous, and sulfur are
some of them. Ozone is just another form of oxygen. It is formed when the molecule of the
stable form of oxygen (o2) is split by ultraviolet (UV) radiation or electrical discharge; it has
three instead of two atoms of oxygen per molecule. Thus , its chemical formula is
represented by O3.
Ozone forms a thin layer in the upper atmosphere, which protects life on earth from
ultraviolet rays, a cause of skin cancer. At lower atmospheric levels it is an air pollutant and
contribu te to the greenhouse effect. At ground level, ozone, when inhaled, can cause
asthma attacks, stunted growth in plants, and corrosion of certain materials. It is produced
by the action of sunlight on air pollutants, including car exhaust fumes, and is a major air
pollutant in hot summers. More will be said about ozone and the greenhouse effect later in
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OZONE AND GLOBAL CLIMATE PROTECTION

We have already discussed the global climate change problem, but let us take a look at the
stratospheric ozone problem.
Ozone is formed in the stratosphere by radiation from the sun and helps to shield life on
earth from some of the sun’s potentially destructive ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
In the early 1970s, scientist suspected that ozone layer was being depleted. By the 1980s, it
became clear that the ozone shield was indeed thinning in some places, and at times even
has a seasonal hole in it, notably over Antartica. The exact causes and actual extent of the
depletion are not yet fully known, but most scientists believe that various chemicals in the
air are responsible.
Most scientist identify the family or chlorined-based compounds, most notably
chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and Chlorinated solvents (carbon tetrachloride and methyl
chloroform), as the primary culprits involved in ozone depletion. In 1974, Molina and
Rowland hypothesized the CFCs, containing chlorine, were responsible for ozone depletion.
They pointed out that chlorine molecules are highly active and readily and continually break
apart the three-atom ozone into the two-atom form of oxygen generally found close to
earth, in the lower atmosphere.
According to Davis & Corwell (1991(, the Interdepartmental Committee for atmospheric
Sciences (1975) estimates that a 5% reduction in ozone could result in nearly a 10% increase
in cancer. This already frightening scenario was made even more frightening by 1987 when
evidence showed that CFCs destroy ozone in the stratosphere above Antartica every spring.
The ozone hole had become larger, with more than half of the total ozone column wiped
out and essentially all ozone disappeared from some regions of the stratosphere
In 1988, Zurer reported that on a worlwide basis, , the oone layer shrunk approximately
2.5% in the preceeding decade. This obvious thinning of the ozone layer, with its increased
chances of skin cancer and cataracts, is also implicated in supression of the human immune
system, and damage to other animals and plants, especially aquatic life and soybean crops.
The urgency of the problem spurred the 1987 signing of the Montreal Protocol by 24
countries, which required signatory countries to reduce their consumption of CFCs by 20%
by 1993, and by 50% by 1988, marking a significant achievement in solving a global warming
problem.
The Clean Air Act of 1990 borrowed from EPA requirements already on the books in other
regulations and mandated phaseout of the production of substances that deplete the ozone
layer. Under these provisions, the EPA was required to list all regulated substances along
with their ozone depletion potential, atmospheric life-time, and global warming potential