ozone (O3)
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Occurrence
- Ozone may be formed either electrically or photochemically.
- Ozone that is produced photochemically is found in two distinctly different parts of the atmosphere.
- In the upper stratosphere ozone is created when UV light from the sun converts divalent (normal) oxygen to ozone.
- This ozone layer protects us from harmful radiation from the sun.
- Ozone is also created in the troposphere when exhaust from internal combustion engines is photochemically degraded
- In the upper stratosphere ozone is created when UV light from the sun converts divalent (normal) oxygen to ozone.
- ozone occurs as a component of wildfire smoke & as a component of smog
Characteristics
- Typically odorless & colorless
- Electrically created ozone is a blue gas with a pungent odor in high concentrations
- If trapped near the ground by thermal inversions, low lying ozone begins a process of oxidation which eventually converts the components of smog to cleaner air
Uses
- Ozone has been in commercial use for over 100 years
- Water treatment
- sewage treatment
- fire deodorizing
- spas & pools
- food storage
- other uses.
- Antiseptic properties of ozone:
- reduces airborne & surface bacteria by 71%
- reduces molds & fungus by 83%
- 3,000 times more germicidal than chlorine
- 160 times more bactericidal than sulfur dioxide
- 37 times more bactericidal than formaldehyde
Function
- excited or reactive oxygen species & a powerful oxidizing agent
Structure
- ozone is a form of oxygen in which three atoms combine to form a molecule
- oxygen is normally divalent
Pathology
may be harmful if inhaled (smog)
Upper limit for tolerable environmental ozone is 0.1 ppm[2].
Ozone may be generated in the brain during inflammation.
- the ozone in turn reacts with biomolecules, including cholesterol in a reaction called ozonolysis.
Pharmacokinetics
- 1/2life in air is 10-20 minutes at ambient temperatures
More general terms
Additional terms
References
- ↑ EcoQuest Air Purification System http://marketplace.wvec.com/ecoquest.htm
- ↑ Jump up to: 2.0 2.1 http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html
- ↑ Zhang, Q et al, Metabolite-initiated protein misfolding may trigger Alzheimer's disease, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0400924101 http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0400924101
- ↑ National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Ozone https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/ozone/index.cfm