Recently, more and more often the public has been concerned about environmental issues - protecting the environment, animals, and reducing the amount of harmful and dangerous emissions. Surely everyone also heard about what an ozone hole is, and that there are a lot of them in the modern stratosphere of the Earth. And there is.
Modern anthropogenic activities and technological development jeopardize the existence of animals and plants on Earth, as well as human life itself.
What is an ozone hole?
The ozone layer is the protective shell of the blue planet, which is located in the stratosphere. Its height is approximately twenty-five kilometers from the earth's surface. And this layer is formed from oxygen, which undergoes chemical transformations under the influence of solar radiation. A local decrease in ozone concentration (in common people this is the well-known "hole") is currently caused by many reasons. First of all, this, of course, is human activity (both industrial and everyday). However, there are opinions that the ozone layer is destroyed under the influence of exclusively natural phenomena that are not related to people.
Anthropogenic impact
Having understood what an ozone hole is, it is necessary to find out what kind of human activity contributes to its appearance. First of all, these are aerosols. Every day we use deodorants, hair sprays, eau de toilette with sprays and often do not think about the fact that this adversely affects the protective layer of the planet.
The fact is that the compounds that are present in the cartridges that we are familiar with (including bromine and chlorine) readily react with oxygen atoms. Therefore, the ozone layer is destroyed, turning after such chemical reactions into completely useless (and often harmful) substances.
Destructive compounds for the ozone layer are also present in air-conditioning equipment saving in the summer heat, as well as in cooling equipment. The widespread industrial activity of man also weakens earthly protection. Industrial emissions into the atmosphere and water inhibit it (part of the harmful substances evaporate over time), pollute the stratosphere and exhaust gases of automobiles. The latter, as statistics show, is becoming more and more every year. Negative effect on the ozone layer and rocket fuel.
Natural influence
Knowing what an ozone hole is, you must also have an idea of how many of them are above the surface of our planet. The answer is disappointing: there are many gaps in earthly protection. They are small and often not a hole, but a very thin remaining layer of ozone. However, there are two huge unprotected spaces. This is the Arctic and Antarctic ozone hole.
The stratosphere above the poles of the Earth almost does not contain a protective layer at all. What is the reason for this? After all, there are no cars and industrial enterprises. It's all about the natural influence, the second reason for the
destruction of the ozone layer. Polar vortices arise in the collision of warm and cold air currents. These gas formations in large quantities contain nitric acid, which, under the influence of very low temperatures, reacts with ozone.
The ecologists began to sound the alarm only in the twentieth century. Destructive ultraviolet rays that make their way to the ground without stumbling into an ozone obstacle can cause skin cancer in humans, as well as the death of many animals and plants (primarily marine). So, international organizations have banned almost all compounds that destroy the protective layer of our planet. It is believed that even if humanity abruptly ceases any negative impact on ozone in the stratosphere, the currently existing holes will disappear very soon. This is due to the fact that the harmful substances freons, which have already made their way up, can independently exist in the atmosphere for decades.