What is ozone?

Ozone is one of the naturally occurring trace gases that make up our atmosphere. Most of the atmosphere consists of nitrogen and oxygen, the air we breathe. These gases do not hold heat, so they do not hold us warm. It also protects the country from UV rays. They are: water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and nitrous oxide. Without the greenhouse effect, the ground temperature would fall far below zero every night.

Ozone is a particularly critical trace gas because it plays two roles. In the lower atmosphere, it contributes to greenhouse gases and keeps the ground warm. But it serves a more critical function in the upper atmosphere, where it blocks almost all the sun -dead UV rays in reaching the ground.

UV rays are associated with skin cancer. The "UV index" is used in the summer months to know how long it is safe to stay in the sun. Ozone decreases correlates with an increase in skin cancer. This is important because ozone was at a constant speed exhaustMaster and created holes in the upper ozone layer.

holes were first discovered in 1985 over Antarctica, where atmospheric circulation, temperature and other factors "attract" holes to this area. The discovery of the holes has created a global interest.

The culprit was chlorofluorocarbons produced by man (CFC). CFCs have been released into the atmosphere for years. They are emitted partly from Aerosolus made of CFC drive current, cooling units and air conditioning. Once the CFC reaches the upper stratosphere UV rays, the gas causes the gas to release free chlorine atoms. Creating tens of thousands of ozone molecules requires only one chlorine molecule for simple oxygen. Again, oxygen does not filter UV rays. The danger is that very small amounts of CFC gas destroys a huge amount of ozone.

Moving to Ban CFC was slow, but all the main countries that produced them ended them by 2000. CFC already released will take another 50 years to disintegrate, and CFC will continue to release old PRSurvivors that are still used. As a result, ozone levels and a hole over Antarctica are still carefully monitored.

In addition to being a naturally occurring gas, ozone is also created during fossil fuel combustion as one component of smog. Burning fossil fuels also release carbon dioxide into the air, amplifying greenhouse gases, adding to the greenhouse effect and global warming.