Ozone

Ozone derives from the greek word ozein which means to smell. It was

first discovered in 1839 by Christian Friedrick Schonbein who noticed it

because of its distinctive acrid smell. He discovered this at the

University of Basel in Switzerland. Ozone is merely oxygen, but not the

type we breath. Ozone, O3 has three compounds while oxygen has only two.

Ozone is reac- tive, meaning it does not stay still, and wants to go back

to its original state, with two compounds, O2. This is why ozone is

harmful. Ozone always wants to let go of its third compound, and if this

compound reacts with other substances, it could be damaging, especially to

humans.

When discussing with the ozone layer, one should know the four major

atmosphere levels on earth. The troposphere which is between zero and

fifteen kilometers in altitude and has tempera- ture ranges from two

hundred to two hundred ninety kelvins. The second is the stratosphere

which ranges from fifteen to approxi- mately fifty kilometers in altitude

and has temperature ranges from two hundred to two hundred fifty kelvins.

The third level in the atmosphere is mesosphere. This level ranges from

fifty to eighty-five kilometers in altitude and has temperature ranges

between one hundred eighty and two hundred fifty kelvins. Finally, the

thermosphere is the final level in the atmosphere. It's range is eighty-

five to one hundred forty kilometers and also temperatures as high as four

hundred sixty kelvins.

Society has been widely addressed with the many problems that we are

having in our environment today. A major problem is that of CFCs. CFC

stands for Chlorofluorocarbons which are found in many of the aerosol spray

cans. In December of 1973, Rowland and Molina discovered that CFCs can

destroy the ozone in the stratosphere.

In June 1975, the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) sued the

Consumers Product Safety Commission for a band of CFCs used in aerosol

spray cans. United States's fifth largest manufacturers of aerosol sprays

announced that they will reduce the amount of CFCs used in there products.

But as things started to get better, The Consumer Product Safety Commission

rejected NRDC's law suit in July stating that there was insufficient

evidence towards the amount of harm the CFCs were doing to the ozone layer.

On September 1976, a report was released which re-enforced Rowland and

Molina's hypothesis, but also stated that the govern- ment action on CFC

regulations should be postponed. This report also stated that the CFCs can

initiate climatic changes and contribute to the warming of the earth's

atmosphere, i.e., the greenhouse effect.

May 1977, several government agencies announced joint plans to limit,

but not eliminate uses of CFCs in aerosol spray cans. But on February of

the following year, the government decided to postpone the regulations on

CFCs used in refrigeration, air conditioning, solvents, and other

industrial processes. With all the new regulations taking affect and being

postponed, nothing was getting accomplished, but finally, on October 1978,

aerosols where banned in the United States.

August of 1981, satellite pictures showed