Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive gas composed of three oxygen atoms. It is both a natural and a man-made product that occurs in the Earth's upper atmosphere ozone molecule(the stratosphere) and lower atmosphere (the troposphere). Depending on where it is in the atmosphere, ozone affects life on Earth in either good or bad ways.
During the late 1920's, a new chemical named as chlorofluorocarbons
namely known as CFC's was invented.
It had been proven that these chemicals were no harm to fabrics,
plants or people. Soon companies strated
using these CFC's in mechanics and daily use products such as
refrigerators, Air conditioners, packaging products
and spray cans.
Soon in the period between 1920s to the 1970s, CFC's molecules were
realeased into the atmosphere in big numbers
In the 1970s scientists began to wonder what would happen if all those
CFC molecules were present in the air for
a long period of time. Soon they discovered it could float up through
the troposphere to the statosphere, were the UV rays
would break them down and leaving the chlorine and fluorine from the
CFC's to float around the stratosphere causing rise of temperature
on the earths surface. Not only this but the scientists knew that
ozone in the stratosphere protects the earth from UV rays.
It is a hole that allows the entry of large amounts of ultraviolet light and it is located at the poles, on the Antarctic continent and the Arctic Ocean, being especially large during the spring of both hemispheres and resulting in longer summer seasons.
Although this hole is due to the natural fluctuations of ozone in the atmosphere, it also caused by human activities which emit gases that end up in the stratosphere and degrade the ozone molecules, increasing the size and effect of this hole in the ozone layer. This is an environmental and health problem, since the excess of solar radiation is a threat to any form of life.
