ESSAY ON POLLUTION AND OZONE LAYER
Ozone is a condensed form of Oxygen. It has three atoms of Oxygen instead of two and has a faint blue color with pungent odor.In industries it is used in deodorization, oxidation and bleaching and it is generated by a silent electric discharge in ordinary Oxygen. Thus it is useful in this way. It is very useful in saving life from sun radiation. It actually forms an umbrella over the earth. It is concentrated generally 30 km above the surface of earth. It is generated there by the interaction of high radiation of the sun on the oxygen in the atmosphere. Its concentration is only 10 ppm parts of air. Still it stops sun radiation to penetrate the earth.
If there is a pollution of ozone i.e. if the ozone layer is disturbed the sun radiation would attack human life, animal and plant life. The ultra violet rays would eat all life on earth. A one percent reduction of ozone layer would mean 4 to 8 per cent increase of skin cancer among people having light colored skin.
With an increase of 22 per cent cancer among men and 17 per cent women in Australia the Northern America was rather awake. Research in 1985 showed that there was a big hole in Ozone layer in Antarctica- as big as the United States and as deep as Mount Everst.4.9 to 10.6 per cent loss was found over Australia. This resulted in one lakh forty thousand cases of skin cancer every year in a population of one crore seventy lakh the highest in the world.
Research in 1985 showed the chlorofluoro carbons (CFC) used in air conditioning and refrigerators finally moves out and stops its journey only after crossing the ozone shield. With an interaction with ultraviolet rays of the sun chlorine is separated. It eats ozone. Thus CFC has proved a great pollutant. If its use is continued the hole over Antartica, Australia and Europe would increase so much that people may not survive in due course. To save the world from the pollution of ultra violet rays ozone must be preserved and some other substitute must be found for the cooling system.
A report published on October 5,2000 based on research done in Wellington asserts that the hole over Antarctica covers 29.3 million sq.km- an area more than three times the size of the USA.It extended over the Sothern Chile city of Punta Arenas exposing residents to very high levels of ultra violet radiations. Segments separating from the hole could affect Argentina; tip South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It is rather a challenge to the world to check this ozone depletion or it will gradually affect some more areas.