Ozone Near The Earth's Surface example essay topic

The Ozone Layer In environmental science the green house effect is a common term for the role water vapor; carbon dioxide and ozone play in keeping the earth's surface warmer than it would normally be. The atmosphere is primarily transparent to infrared radiation from the sun, which is mostly absorbed by the earth's surface. The earth being much cooler than the sun, remits radiation most strongly at infrared wavelengths. Water vapor, carbon dioxide and ozone then absorb much of this radiation and remit a large proportion back towards the earth.

The atmosphere thus acts as a kind of blanket: without its presents the earth's average ground temperature of 15 degrees Celsius would fall to -28 degrees Celsius. The termed greenhouse effect implies that a comparable effect keeps the interior of the green house warm. Actually, the man role of the glass in a green house is to prevent convection currents from mixing cooler air outside with the warmer air inside. Although water is the most important factor in the greenhouse effect, isa major reason why human regions experience less cooling at night than do dry regions.

Changes in both water and carbon dioxide play an important role in climate changes. For this reason many scientist have expressed concerns over the global increase of carbon dioxide in resent decades, largely as a result of the burring of fossil fuels. In many other factors of the earth's present climate remain more or less constant, the carbon dioxide increase should raise the average temperature at the earth's surface. Because warm air can contain warm water before reaching saturation than cooler air can, the amount of water would probably increase as the atmosphere got warmer.

This process could go on forever. Although this considered unlikely many negative feed backs could as so occur, such as increase in cloud cover or increase carbon dioxide absorption by the oceans, the results of even a limited rise in average surface temperature remains sufficiently dramatic to justify concern. In October 1983 the US Environmental Protection Agency released a report that projected the irreversible onset of the greenhouse effect by the 1990's. Shortly there after the National Academy of Sciences issued its own report, in which the matter of irreversibility remain more in question. Both reports, however, strongly indicated the need for measures to check the rise in carbon dioxide. No matter what term you use global warming or greenhouse effect, they both play a major role in the earth's climate.

Climate researchers a reattempting to predict, based on ocean and air circulation, how great an increase there will be. If global warming continues then the polar ice caps will melt and most of the earth will be flooded and a lot of lives will be lost. The Ozone is located in the stratosphere, approximately 10 km - 50 km above the earth. The density of ozone gas at zero degrees Celsius is 1 ATM. The Ozone is relatively unstable form of molecular oxygen containing three oxygen atoms (O). Radiation from the sun continuously bombards the Earth's atmosphere, causing molecules to break apart into component elements that form into new chemical compounds.

Ozone is produced when upper-atmosphere oxygen molecules (O) are broken apart by ultra-violet light. Most of the freed oxygen atoms immediately bond with nearby oxygen molecules to form ozone (O + O = O). The only method used to make commercially is to pass gaseous oxygen or air through a high voltage alternating-current electric discharge called a silent electric discharge. Ozone near the earth's surface is generally regarded to asa bad. It is created from industrial, transportation, and some natural sources. It is the most noxious component of smog.

All high concentration, 0 is known to reduce human lung capacity, as well as damage the cells of many plants, animals, and other organisms. For these reasons, ozone is treated as and air pollutant in most industrial countries. Furthermore, O in the upper troposphere is a powerful greenhouse gas and is believed to play a role in global warming. On the other hand, ozone in the stratosphere is highly valued. It serves as a protective radiation shield that interprets solar ultraviolet light harmful to living things. Ultraviolet light splits the relatively unstable Molecules into O and atomic O. Most of the time, the O atom created by Ozone breakup recombines with one of the plentiful O molecules to re-form O. This Ozone-creation process is constantly at work producing more ozone.

Scientistcan't predict with certainly the consequences for life on the earth if the stratosphere ozone layer weakens. In general, biologists and health professionals recognize that life on earth enveloped under the protection of an ozone layer thick enough to remove much of the UV-B solar radiation known to damage cellular organisms. Accordingly, various organisms -- including humans -- may have difficult adjusting to the higher UV-B levels resulting from a thinner ozone Layer. Medical studies have quantified some of the expected effects of increased UV-B levels, based on real-life information form people exposed to greater than average UV-B levels -- populations living at high altitudes and in the tropics, where the average ozone layer is thinner and the sunlight more direct. The most serious medical effects include increased incidence of cataracts and skin cancer, as well as evidence of weakened immune-system response. Ecological research indicated that some crop yields will decrease and disruption in marine food chains may occur.

A weakened ozone layer may also case climatological effects. The stratosphere warms with altitude because the splitting of stratospheric ozone is caused by ultraviolet photons, which contain much more energy than that required to break the O-O bond. This extra energy is converted to heat. Less stratospheric ozone means less local heating, but it also means that more UV light is transmitted to heat the lower atmosphere and the earth's surface. Ozone can be destroyed by chemicals that react directly with it, or by those that react with the oxygen atom temporarily freed whenever an o molecule breaks apart. However, since ozone concentrations are higher than those of most reactive chemicals in the stratosphere, the only ozone destroyers of concern are those that can participate in a "catalytic cycle" that is, where one trace catalytic chemical can be responsible for destroying terns or even hundreds of thousands of ozone molecules.

In the last few years, various human activities have released ozone -destroying chemicals into the atmosphere. Of Particular importance are halogen atoms -- chlorine and bromide. Chemicals release into the ozone by industrial particles include compounds (such as CCL and CHI CL), compounds CFCs and halon compounds. Chlorocarcon compounds are used primarily as industrial solvents, de greasing compounds, and CFC precursors. The CFCs are used as working fluids in refrigeration and air conditioning units. Aerosol propellant agents.

The Halons are used as fire suppressants. Once in the stratosphere, all these chlorine and bromine containing compounds are broken apart by solar ultraviolet radiation, releasing their Cl or Br atoms. These atoms start the process of Ozone destruction. Each Chlorine of Bromine atom that starts the destruction cycle can destroy 100,000 ozone molecules.

There are on the other hand natural ozone depletes such as volcanic eruptions. A hole in the Ozone has emerged because of all of the depletion. Starting in the spring of 1980, a massive 8.2 square mile ozone hole accounting for one quarter to one half the appeared over the continent of Antarctica. Forthe past 16 years the hole has grown larger. There was a theory that predicted that the most severe O loss would occur relatively high in the stratosphere above 30 km). It was called the Roland / Molina theory.

In fact the largest depletion over Antarctica occurred in the middle range between 13 and 21 km. Atmospheric chlorine and bromine levels are expected to peak around 1998. There are currently steps being made to protect the ozone. One such step is the 1987 Montreal Protocol on substances that harmed the ozone.

37 nations signed the bill, it read that the signing nations cut down on the use of chlorofluorocarbons and to completely stop CFC emissions by the year 2000. In general people are waking up to this serious problem; as well they should. The more ozone that is destroyed the more UVA rays and UVB rays that reach the earth. It is hypothesized that by the year 2086 if depletion continues at the current rate that no living organism will be able to survive on on earth unless the yare underwater. Ozone is the most important thin known man. The survival of the human race is really dependent upon the ozone layer.

If we keep using these dangerous chemicals, such as CFC, found in ar isol cans, we could the ozone layer. If we destroy the ozone layer then we are ourselves. If the ozone layer is destroyed then powerful will penetrate the earth and everyone would get skin cancer and eventually die. I hope organizations will continue to work to prevent the destruction of ozone because I would like to see man survive for a while..