Many people hear about atmospheric ozone depletion and wonder why we don%u2019t

Question

Many people hear about atmospheric ozone depletion and wonder why we don%u2019t simply replace the ozone that has been destroyed. Knowing about chlorofluorocarbons and knowing how catalysts work, explain how this would not be a lasting solution. List a few common sources of chlorofluorocarbons Many people hear about atmospheric ozone depletion and wonder why we don%u2019t simply replace the ozone that has been destroyed. Knowing about chlorofluorocarbons and knowing how catalysts work, explain how this would not be a lasting solution. List a few common sources of chlorofluorocarbons Many people hear about atmospheric ozone depletion and wonder why we don%u2019t simply replace the ozone that has been destroyed. Knowing about chlorofluorocarbons and knowing how catalysts work, explain how this would not be a lasting solution. List a few common sources of chlorofluorocarbons

Explanation / Answer

Catalysts are not consumed by the reactions in which they participate (as catalysts; they can be destroyed by other, associated reactions). So just putting more ozone in the upper atmosphere would not reduce the problem; given a supply of chlorofluorocarbons, extra ozone would be destroyed, too.

There's also the small matter of how you get the ozone into the upper atmosphere; ozone generated at ground level is consumed almost immediately by reactions with pretty much anything around it, especially organic matter. Unlike chlorofluorocarbons, which are chemically stable except to the sort of hard solar ultraviolet light found only in the upper atmosphere, ozone would not have time to diffuse into the upper atmosphere.

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