O3 Losing an Oxygen Atom

  • Credit

    NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Chemical Model Animation of O3 Losing an Oxygen Atom to a Radical

Chemical Model Animation of CFC's Releasing Chlorine to Form Reservoir Gases

Ozone is very reactive. It easily loses the third oxygen atom in the presence of other highly reactive compounds called radicals, which contain chlorine, hydrogen, nitrogen, or bromine. Minute quantities of these radicals can cause large decreases in ozone because they are not consumed in the reaction. This is called a catalytic cycle.

Most stratospheric chlorine comes from man-made compounds called chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs. CFC's, widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners, are quite harmless and non-reactive in the lower atmosphere. Carried slowly upward by the earth's winds, they can survive the 5 year journey to the upper stratosphere. Here, above most of the ozone layer, the sun's ultraviolet radiation breaks down the CFC's into the more reactive chlorine compounds that destroy ozone. Chlorine can react with methane to form hydrogen chloride. Chlorine can also react with ozone forming the radical chlorine monoxide. Chlorine monoxide then combines with the radical nitrogen dioxide to form stable chlorine nitrate. Chlorine nitrate and hydrogen chloride are called reservoir gases for the chlorine radical. These reservoir gases usually contain more than ninety percent of the chlorine in the lower stratosphere.

O3 losing an oxygen atom to a radical

Metadata

  • Sensor

  • Animation ID

    825

  • Video ID

    SVS1999-1001

  • Start Timecode

    1:20:58:05

  • End Timecode

    1:22:33:00

  • Animator

    James W. Williams, Jesse Allen, Greg Shirah

  • Studio

    SVS

  • Visualization Date

    1999/04/09

  • Scientist

    Mark Schoeberl (NASA/GSFC)

  • Keywords

    Ozone, Oxygen

  • Data Date

    None

  • Story URL

    stories/UARS/ozone_models.html

  • Animation Type

    Regular