2023-12-20 19:31:29
Published on December 20, 2023 at 8:31 p.m. / Modified on December 20, 2023 at 9:32 p.m.
Without the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere – made of trioxygen or O3 – life on Earth would be threatened by ultraviolet radiation. However, this thin envelope is fragile, as shown by work in the 1970s, which described in detail the mechanisms of the formation and destruction of this molecule.
A little flashback. After its discovery at the end of the 1920s, the industry quickly adopted a family of gases, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), to produce cold, synthetic foams, or propel the contents of closed containers, shaving sprays or insecticides. from the time to fire extinguishers. As they were free from health suspicion, no one cared regarding them for decades. Everyone was then unaware of their impact on the atmosphere, until the work on the ozone layer – awarded a Nobel Prize in 1995. Which explained, among other things, why a gigantic hole forms every spring above the poles, especially in Antarctica. in this frail protection, growing from year to year.
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