Can you make ozone

This harmful radiation can cause skin cancer, injure eyes, harm the immune system, and upset the balance of an entire ecosystem. Researchers have determined that chlorofluorocarbons CFCs have contributed to the depletion of ozone.

CFCs are the human-made chemicals widely used in spray cans, foam packaging, and refrigeration materials. Chemically inert, CFCs accumulate in the atmosphere over time until they eventually drift to the upper atmosphere, where they encounter high energy UV radiation.

Many countries have agreed to phase out the use of these ozone-destroying chemicals, thus giving the hole a chance to heal itself. The EPA has great resources on ozone layer depletion, with sections on what we can each do to reduce the release of CFC's.

This in-depth article provides a detailed explanation of the causes and impacts of ozone depletion. See the Tool. See the Collection.

See the Lesson. Photo Credit: Clipart. Did you find this resource helpful? The sun gives off light, heat, and other types of radiation. Too much UV ultraviolet radiation can cause skin cancer, cataracts, and harm plants and animals.

Instead, the protective layer contains less ozone than it used to. This thinning is found all over the earth, but the biggest losses are over the North and South Poles. You can see current levels of ozone over the South Pole at ozonewatch. The trouble with ozone destruction starts when certain chemicals used in air conditioners, fire extinguishers, insulating foams, and solvents are let out during use.

These atoms take away one of the oxygen atoms from ozone and use them to make other substances. Chlorine and bromine atoms are catalysts , meaning they can speed up a chemical reaction without changing, and can repeat the destructive cycle again with another ozone molecule. So one chlorine or bromine atom can destroy thousands and thousands of ozone molecules, causing ozone to disappear much faster than nature can replace it. The reason that we have problems with the ozone layer is that some chemicals like chloroflourocarbons CFCs; for example, the freon from your freezer or air conditioner trigger reactions that destroy ozone..

So we have one reaction that makes ozone and one that destroys it. The net ozone level depends on how fast the creation and destruction reactions occur. When pollutants speed up the destruction reactions, the ozone level drops. At the North and South poles, the way that the Earth rotates causes it to be dark practically all the time in the winter and light during the summer. So during the winter there is ozone being destroyed but not being made, making a temporary "hole" in the ozone layer.

It will recover by itself, once we quit doing things to destroy it.