Ozone - Revision history

RichardWSmith: /* Ozone & Planetary Science */ Added link.

2024-11-29T03:12:41Z

Ozone & Planetary Science: Added link.

RichardWSmith: /* Ozone & Planetary Science */ Added link.

2024-11-29T03:10:48Z

Ozone & Planetary Science: Added link.

RichardWSmith: /* Ozone & Planetary Science */

2024-08-24T14:24:54Z

Ozone & Planetary Science

RichardWSmith: Added link.

2024-08-24T06:29:57Z

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RichardWSmith: Created page.

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Ozone (O3) is a molecule containing 3 oxygen atoms. It is a pale blue gas with a distinctive smell (the 'electric' smell after lightning). It is less stable than the normal diatomic oxygen (O2) molecule. Ozone is formed by ultraviolet (UV) light breaking an oxygen atom in half, which then combine with two other O2 molecules. Thus an ozone layer forms high in the atmosphere, which protects the Earth from UV light. Breathing ozone is damaging to the lungs when it is above 0.1 ppm (parts per million). At ground level ozone is considered a pollutant.

== Industrial Uses ==
Ozone is a powerful oxidant (more so than regular O2), and has many uses related to this.

It is used in the preparation of pharmaceuticals, synthetic lubricants, and in many other organic compounds where it is used to sever carbon-carbon bonds.

It is used as a bleaching agent.

It can be used as an antiseptic and can be bubbled thru water to sterilize it.

It can be used to remove iron, magnesium, arsenic, hydrogen sulphide, nitrates, and other 'color' from water .

It is used to kill insects in stored grain.

It can scrub yeast and mold spores from the air in food processing plants.

It can increase the flavour of banana, pineapple, and tomatoes by increasing the flavonoids and phenol contents.

It can destroy cyanide wastes (e.g. chemicals left over from silver and gold mining), by oxidizing cyanide to cyanate and eventually to carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

== Ozone & Planetary Science ==
Earth's ozone layer has formed what is called the 'cold trap' to protect Earth's water. UV light will break up water into hydrogen and hydroxide. The hydrogen is light enough to float up thru the atmosphere and be lost to space. However, the water freezes into ice crystals below the ozone layer, and the photo-disassociation of water is greatly slowed, preserving Earth's oceans. It is thought that both Mars and Venus has lost much water because they don't have a cold trap.

Mars has a larger than expected amount of ozone, formed from its trace amounts of oxygen and from disassociation of carbon monoxide (CO). However, this tiny amount of ozone is insufficient to stop UV rays from reaching the surface and destroying organic molecules there.

It is a weak [[Greenhouse gas]]. (Because it is unstable people wouldn't create it, but if naturally formed it would help warm the planet.)

If we were to begin to [[Terraforming|Terraform]] Mars, creating a significant ozone layer would be a high priority to protect bacteria on the surface.

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 Earth's ozone layer has formed what is called the 'cold trap' to protect Earth's water.  UV light will break up water into hydrogen and hydroxide.  The hydrogen is light enough to float up thru the atmosphere and be lost to space.  However, the water freezes into ice crystals below the ozone layer, and the photo-disassociation of water is greatly slowed, preserving Earth's oceans.  It is thought that both Mars and Venus has lost much water because they don't have a cold trap.
-Mars has a larger than expected amount of ozone, formed from its trace amounts of oxygen and from disassociation of [[Carbon monoxide]] (CO).  However, this tiny amount of ozone is insufficient to stop UV rays from reaching the surface and destroying organic molecules there.
+Mars has a larger than expected amount of ozone, formed from its trace amounts of oxygen and from disassociation of [[Carbon monoxide]] (CO).  However, this tiny amount of ozone is insufficient to stop UV rays from reaching the surface and destroying organic molecules there.  See [[Photochemistry]] for more information.
 It is a weak [[Greenhouse gas]].  (Because it is unstable, people wouldn't create it, but if naturally formed it would help warm the planet.)
 If we were to begin to [[Terraforming|Terraform]] Mars, creating a significant ozone layer would be a high priority to protect bacteria on the surface.

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:29, 24 August 2024
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−	Ozone (O3) is a molecule containing 3 ~~oxygen~~ atoms. It is a pale blue gas with a distinctive smell (the 'electric' smell after lightning). It is less stable than the normal diatomic oxygen (O2) molecule. Ozone is formed by ultraviolet (UV) light breaking an oxygen atom in half, which then combine with two other O2 molecules. Thus an ozone layer forms high in the atmosphere, which protects the Earth from UV light. Breathing ozone is damaging to the lungs when it is above 0.1 ppm (parts per million). At ground level ozone is considered a pollutant.	+	Ozone (O3) is a molecule containing 3 [[Oxygen]] atoms. It is a pale blue gas with a distinctive smell (the 'electric' smell after lightning). It is less stable than the normal diatomic oxygen (O2) molecule. Ozone is formed by ultraviolet (UV) light breaking an oxygen atom in half, which then combine with two other O2 molecules. Thus an ozone layer forms high in the atmosphere, which protects the Earth from UV light. Breathing ozone is damaging to the lungs when it is above 0.1 ppm (parts per million). At ground level ozone is considered a pollutant.

	== Industrial Uses ==		== Industrial Uses ==

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 Mars has a larger than expected amount of ozone, formed from its trace amounts of oxygen and from disassociation of carbon monoxide (CO).  However, this tiny amount of ozone is insufficient to stop UV rays from reaching the surface and destroying organic molecules there.
-It is a weak [[Greenhouse gas]].  (Because it is unstable people wouldn't create it, but if naturally formed it would help warm the planet.)
+It is a weak [[Greenhouse gas]].  (Because it is unstable, people wouldn't create it, but if naturally formed it would help warm the planet.)
 If we were to begin to [[Terraforming|Terraform]] Mars, creating a significant ozone layer would be a high priority to protect bacteria on the surface.