The depletion of the ozone layer caused by chlorofluorocarbons cfcs

Biological effects[ edit ] The main public concern regarding the ozone hole has been the effects of increased surface UV radiation on human health. The chemical shorthand for these gas-phase reactions is: Carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases rise into the atmosphere and spread around the globe, like a blanket wrapping Earth.

Molina suggested that long-lived organic halogen compounds, such as CFCs, might behave in a similar fashion as Crutzen had proposed for nitrous oxide.

Laboratory studies have also shown that fluorine and iodine atoms participate in analogous catalytic cycles. InThomas Midgley, Jr. Thus, due to depletion of the ozone layer, not only the temperature increases, but also the level of water that causes floods.

Total column ozone declined below pre values between and for mid-latitudes. Reactions that take place on polar stratospheric clouds PSCs play an important role in enhancing ozone depletion.

James Lovelock had recently discovered, during a cruise in the South Atlantic inthat almost all of the CFC compounds manufactured since their invention in were still present in the atmosphere.

Crutzen then noted that increasing use of fertilizers might have led to an increase in nitrous oxide emissions over the natural background, which would in turn result in an increase in the amount of NO in the stratosphere.

Molina and Rowland concluded that, like N 2O, the CFCs would reach the stratosphere where they would be dissociated by UV light, releasing chlorine atoms.

Due to this the CFC molecules get disintegrated. Short-wavelength UV radiation splits an oxygen O 2 molecule into two oxygen O atoms, which then combine with other oxygen molecules to form ozone. Between andemissions of the gas jumped by 45 percent. Little did these manufacturers know that their hopes would be dashed only decades later.

In the United States National Academy of Sciences released a report concluding that the ozone depletion hypothesis was strongly supported by the scientific evidence. Between andemissions of the gas jumped by 45 percent. These free radicals were known to be present in the stratosphere, and so were regarded as part of the natural balance—it was estimated that in their absence, the ozone layer would be about twice as thick as it currently is.

In such conditions the ice crystals of the cloud provide a suitable surface for conversion of unreactive chlorine compounds into reactive chlorine compounds, which can deplete ozone easily.

The depletion of ozone layer has trickle down effects in the form of global warming, which in turn leads to melting of polar ice, which will lead to rising sea levels and climatic changes around the world. Molecular oxygen, unlike ozone molecules, cannot keep UV rays from reaching the Earth's surface.

UV rays are harmful for our eyes too. Another factor that may prolong ozone depletion is the drawdown of nitrogen oxides from above the stratosphere due to changing wind patterns.

The oxygen atom then joins up with an oxygen molecule to regenerate ozone. CFCs are insoluble in water and relatively unreactive in the lower atmosphere but are quickly mixed and reach the stratosphere regardless of their weight.

The report showed that the hole in the ozone layer was recovering and the smallest it had been for about a decade. A detailed assessment of ocular exposure to UVB was carried out in a study on Chesapeake Bay Watermen, where increases in average annual ocular exposure were associated with increasing risk of cortical opacity.

July 27, We Need Your Support to Make Change Happen We can reduce global warming emissions and ensure communities have the resources they need to withstand the effects of climate change—but not without you.

CFCs and halons cause chemical reactions that break down ozone molecules, reducing ozone's ultraviolet radiation-absorbing capacity. Additionally, exemptions from the agreed schedules could be applied for under the Essential Use Exemption EUE process for substances other than methyl bromide and under the Critical Use Exemption CUE process for methyl bromide.

Cyanobacteria are sensitive to UV radiation and would be affected by its increase. Studies undertaken by various scientists during the s revealed that CFCs released into the atmosphere accumulate in the stratosphere, where they had a deleterious effect on the ozone layer.

Due to this the amounts of ultraviolet rays reaching the surface of the earth becomes very high and then causes excessive heating in the environment, called the greenhouse effect.

65 rows · For each ODS, this page provides the compound’s atmospheric lifetime, Ozone Depletion. Ozone has always had natural enemies in the atmosphere. One of them is nitrogen (NO), but chlorine (Cl) has been added to the list over the past century.

In fact, its concentration has increased due to human-related activities, breaking the delicate balance of the stratosphere. Let’s see in. But the one and the most important reason for ozone layer depletion is the production and emission of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

This is what which leads to almost 80 percent of. Scientists also discovered that the thinning in the ozone layer was caused by increasing concentrations of ozone-depleting chemicals – chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs (compounds with chlorine and/or fluorine attached to carbon) and to a lesser extent halons (similar compounds with bromine or iodine).

These chemicals can remain in the atmosphere. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), chemicals found mainly in spray aerosols heavily used by industrialized nations for much of the past 50 years, are the primary culprits in ozone layer breakdown.

When. The main cause of ozone depletion and the ozone hole is manufactured chemicals, especially manufactured halocarbon refrigerants, solvents, propellants and foam-blowing agents (chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), HCFCs, halons), referred to as ozone-depleting substances (ODS).

The depletion of the ozone layer caused by chlorofluorocarbons cfcs