Реферат: Ozone Layer 2 Essay Research Paper The
Ozone Layer 2 Essay, Research Paper
The ozone layer shields the earth from most of the
harmful radiation and light comming from the sun. The
ozone reflects and absorbs the ultraviolet rays that try to
come in. Without this kind of protection, all living things
will be effected by these UV rays. Skin cancer develops in
most living mammals as a cause of an overabundance of
the suns ultraviolet rays.
The ozone layer is located in the earth’s
stratosphere. The ozone layer is located from about
fifteen-to-thirty kilometers above the earths surface. The
ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms bonded to form
O3. This mixture is different from the oxygen we breathe.
The ozone is colored blue and has a remarkably strong
odor. The ozone molecule is a very rare molecule. If you
are given ten million air molecules, only three molecules
will be the ozone molecule.
Even a small portion of the ozone will play an
important role of protecting the earth. The ozone aborbs a
portion of of the radiation that is given off by the sun. The
most important radiation the ozone absorbs is the
ultraviolet light, UVB. The UVB light has linked to skin
cancer, cataracts, damage to crops, and some types of
marine life.
The types of effects that are formed by
overexposure to these harmful UV rays are skin cancer
(melanoma and nonmelanoma), cataracts and other types
of eye damage, immune system supperession, and
premature aging of the skin. It is a fact that one in every
five Americans will develop some type of skin cancer in
their lifetime. Also, every hour one American dies of skin
cancer.
The most deadly type of skin cancer is melanoma.
This cancer is the most serious and fastest growing cancer
in the United States today. The case of this cancer in the
past two decades have doubled. This figure is still
expected to rise. Nonmelanoma skin cancer are not as
deadly as the melanoma cancer. In 1999 more than
960,000 cases of this cancer will form. From these
960,000 cases, 2,000 people will die. The disease can be
treated if detected early. The types of the nonmelanoma
cancers are basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell
carcinomas.The basal cell carcinomas forms small skin
colored bumps on the head and neck areas. This cancer
will not spread, but might cause a considerable amount of
bone damage. Squamous cell carcinomas form tumors
which are red scaly patches. This cancer, unlike the other,
can spread to other parts of the body.
Cataracts can also form from over exposure to the
sun. Cataracts are formed in the lens of the eye. The
symptoms are a cloudy vision from loss of trasparency.
This symptom can be treated by modern eye surgery. If
this problem gets worse, it could lead to blindness. Most
of these cancers and diseases can be prevented by helping
the ozone cure itself.
The factors which harm the ozone are mostly the
use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s). These products were
made over fifty years ago. The products which are labled
as CFC’s are refigerants, solvents, and foam blowing
agents. Other industrial chemicals such as methyl
chloroform and carbon tetrachloride also harm the ozone.
The chemical that is in all of these substances that kill the
ozone the fastest is chlorine. Over 100,000 molecules of
O3 can be destoyed by one molecule of chlorine.
There is a plus to all of this chaos. The ozone will
revive itsself, but not as fast as we can destroy it. It will
take at least fifty years of healing to completely heal. We
can prevent this killing of the ozone by conserving the
trips we make in our vehichles and not to use chlorine
products and other products which give off CFC’s.