• Question: WHAT IS THE O ZONE MADE OF AND HOW IS IT MADE?

    Asked by 338thuc43 to Claire on 22 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Claire Bryer

      Claire Bryer answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      The ozone layer contains high levels of ozone (O3) that helps protect us from some of the more harmful radiation that comes from the sun. The ozone layer is about 20 to 30 km above the Earth.

      It is created by the ozone-oxygen cycle:
      O2 + ℎνuv → 2O
      O + O2 ↔ O3
      (uv is ultraviolet radiation)

      We are slowly depleting the ozone layer by changing the chemical composition of our atmosphere. By releasing CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), they aid the reaction of ozone back into oxygen by providing another partner for the oxygen atom to bind to.

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