A Hole in the Sky

The ozone layer is basically a thin layer of gasses, which has naturally occurred, such as oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere that keep UV rays from coming down to the surface. Ozone is O3, which in other words, are three oxygen atoms. The ozone layer can be found in the stratosphere, which is the layer next to the troposphere. Humans, us and other life on the surface live in the troposphere. Lets say for example that normal commercial airplanes all fly in the troposphere except for the Concorde, which flies in the lower portion of the stratosphere. Ozone has been found to be densest at the two poles and to grow thinner as you approach the equator. It’s also very interes

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It was then discovered that the causes of this drastic drop in ozone levels was due to halocarbons, which are man made chemicals that included CFC’s among them. Even though an ozone hole can help to cause a greenhouse effect, which in turn causes global warming, they are not the same thing. Next are the reactions that cause the conversion of the reservoir species into chlorine and bromine’s molecular forms. This is the first component needed in the surprising destruction of our ozone layer. We must come together with a solution to this problem or our survival could come into question. UV rays can cause skin cancer, cataracts, damage to materials like plastics, and harm to certain crops and marine organisms. The chlorine atoms, which had been broken down from CFC’s could be traced in the atmosphere as the ozone was being depleted, so this was soon linked to the cause. In the past years ozone levels in different areas of the earth have been depleted but the most depletion of ozone was focused over Antarctica. What was truly disturbing is the fact that the ozone there is one of the thickest anywhere being several kilometers thick. The two are completely different topics and situations. All of this happens during the Polar winter where the temperature is low enough to cause these conditions. When the sun returns in the summer, The UV rays quickly split the molecular forms of chlorine and bromine into their more active forms. It so happens that almost all the ozone over the continent was destroyed.

Usually ozone can be produced and destroyed naturally, but with the addition of man-made chemicals, the ozone is depleting faster than it can regenerate.

Common topics in this essay:
Clouds PSC, Ozone O3, , CFCs ChloroFluoroCarbons, uv rays, ozone layer, skin cancer, molecular forms, chlorine bromine, life surface, nitric acid, global warming, chlorine atoms, ozone depleted,

Approximate Word count = 772
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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