The Ozone Layer

No such thing
Did you know that there is no such thing as a Ozone layer? More specifically, there is no layer of solid Ozone anywhere in our atmosphere. However, the greatest concentration of Ozone is found from 6 miles to 25 miles up in the stratosphere. Even in its greatest concentration, there are only 10 ppm Ozone, (ppm means parts per million). So how can such a tiny amount of Ozone protect a planet from ultraviolet radiation? Well it can’t, and it doesn’t. you see, we have another molecule to thank for that. It’s called Oxygen, (O2), and unlike Ozone (O3) there’s plenty of it.

How it works
O2 is a molecule of oxygen formed by the joining of two Oxygen atoms. Ozone (which I will refer to as O3 when talking about molecular science) is formed by the joining of three oxygen atoms. Both of these molecules stop ultraviolet radiation the same way. When ultraviolet radiation strikes a molecule, the energy is absorbed into the molecule. But the molecule can’t handle this huge amount of energy. So, the oxygen atoms are forced to separate. In the case of O2, these separated oxygen atoms are highly reactive and quickly join up with each other, often forming a new ozone molecule.

Consequences
Ozone does stop a small percentage of the ultraviolet radiation entering our atmosphere, but many have claimed that it is solely responsible for keeping us alive. The consequences of this deception have been great. It is believed that chloride contained in CFC’s is causing a hole in the “Ozone layer”. The banning of all CFC’s has cost billions of dollars. And get this, there are other ways that nature destroys ozone with chlorine. For instance, volcanic mount Erebus in Antarctica has released 1,000 tons of chloride every day for 20 years. so why are people worried about the puny amount of chloride industries used to produce? I really don’t know.