LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Ozone
built 658 days ago
Ozone is a colourless gas which possesses a characteristic smell. When strongly cooled it condenses to an indigo blue liquid which is extremely explosive (see Liquid Gases). In ozonizing oxygen the volume of the gas diminishes, but if the gas be heated to about 300° C, it returns to its original volume and is found to be nothing but oxygen. The same change of ozone into oxygen may be brought about by contact with platinum black and other substances. Ozone is only very slightly soluble in water. It is a most powerful oxidizing agent, which rapidly attacks organic matter (hence in preparing the gas, rubber connexions must not be used, since they are instantly destroyed), bleaches vegetable colouring matters and acts rapidly on most metals.
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Ozone is a relatively unstable molecule found in Earth's atmosphere. Most ozone is concentrated below a 30-mile (48-km) height. An ozone molecule is made up of three atoms of oxygen. Although it represents only a tiny fraction of the atmosphere, ozone is crucial for life on Earth. Depending on where ozone resides, it can protect or harm life on Earth. High in the atmosphere-about 15 miles (24 km) up--ozone acts as a shield to protect Earth's surface from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation.
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Madhava Sarma, Executive Secretary of the Ozone Secretariat from 1991-2000, argued that the Kyoto Protocol should have time-bound control measures and adjustments and trade controls with non-parties. He recommended restructuring financing for the Kyoto Protocol based on the MLF model, and developing sector-wise technical committees.
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Ozone occurs naturally through photochemical reactions and by electrical discharges. In photochemical reactions in the stratosphere, ultraviolet rays from the sun strike oxygen molecules, breaking each molecule into two oxygen atoms. The oxygen atoms combine with other oxygen molecules, forming ozone. Electrical discharges include lightning and sparks from motors. Such discharges can break up oxygen molecules, leading to ozone formation. Near Earth's surface, reactions between such gases as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons create ozone and other ingredients of a dangerous pollutant called photochemical smog.
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Ozone exposure can cause several health effects, including irritation of the lungs, increased incidents of asthma, reduced lung function, and aggravation of chronic lung diseases. Increased ozone and smog concentrations severely affect the quality of life for susceptible populations – small children, the elderly, and asthmatics – and present health risks for everyone. Attaining the new federal health standard for ozone in New Jersey would eliminate about 40,000 asthma attacks each year and substantially reduce hospital admissions and emergency room visits among children and adults with asthma and other respiratory diseases.
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Ozone is ... widely used in treatment of water in aquariums and fish ponds. Its use can minimize bacterial growth, control parasites, eliminate transmission of some diseases, and reduce or eliminate "yellowing" of the water. Ozone must not come in contact with fish's gill structures. Natural salt water (with life forms) provides enough "instantaneous demand" that controlled amounts of ozone activate bromide ion to hypobromous acid, and the ozone entirely decays in a few seconds to minutes. If oxygen fed ozone is used, the water will be higher in dissolved oxygen, fish's gill structures will atrophy and they will become dependent on higher dissolved oxygen levels. The higher dissolved oxygen levels tend to minimize algal growth.
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