Why Does The Ozone Hole Form? 

     Module written by Tricia Ferrett and Sharon Anthony

     Quicktime Movies by G. C. Lisensky and S. C. Thorp

    Help with Quicktime Movies

    Session 1: Why worry about the ozone hole?
    Introduction, data analysis, scientific argumentation, Web research skills, UV spectroscopy and experimental design

      Exploration 1A: When did the ozone hole form?

        Ozone Concentrations
        External Links

      Exploration 1B: Why should ozone scientists communicate with the public?
      Exploration 1C: Is ozone decreasing in other parts of the world?

        Ozone Concentrations
        External Links

      Exploration 1D: What else would you like to know?

        External Links

      Exploration 1E: Why do we need ozone?

        Ultraviolet Exposure

    Session 2: Does oxygen chemistry explain the ozone hole?
    Chemical mechanisms, rate laws and calculations, experimenal rate laws, evaluating a model

      Exploration 2A: How is ozone made & destroyed?

        Molecular animations

      Exploration 2B: Why is less ozone produced in the troposphere than in the stratosphere?
      Exploration 2C: Which oxygen reaction dominates ozone destruction?
      Exploration 2D: How do we measure reaction rates?
      Looking Back: Does oxygen chemistry explain the ozone hole?
      Thinking Further: How does UV light vary with altitude?

    Session 3: Does gaseous chlorine chemistry explain the ozone hole?
    Cause and effect relationships, reaction coordinate diagrams, catalysis, activation energy, Arrhenius theory, atmospheric transport, evaluating a model

      Exploration 3A: Why worry about chlorine?
      Exploration 3B: Why is chlorine an efficient ozone destroyer?

        Ozone Depleting Molecules
        External Links

      Exploration 3C: How does chlorine get to the polar stratosphere?
      Exploration 3D: Does gaseous chlorine chemistry explain the ozone hole?

        Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment ER-2 Data

    Session 4: Why have we replaced CFCs?
    Solubility, acid/base and reactive properties of refrigerant gases, atmospheric gas transport & photochemistry, international CFC treaties, CFC replacement gases, C-F and C-H bond chemistry

      Exploration 4A: Why were CFCs once wonder chemicals?
      Exploration 4B: Are CFC regulations adequate?

        CFC Emissions

      Exploration 4C: Why are CFC replacements better?

    Session 5: How Is Antarctic Ozone Chemistry Unique?
    Heterogeneous cloud chemistry, Antarctic catalytic cycles

        External Links

    Session 6: Why Does The Ozone Hole Form in the Antarctic spring?
    Written responses to ozone arguments, applying chemical kinetics to the ozone hole, teaching others about the ozone hole

      Project 1: Supporting a scientific argument with evidence
      Project 2: Chemical reaction rates & the ozone hole
      Project 3: Teaching the community about ozone.

        Ozone Concentrations
        External Links


    Copyright © 2004 by the trustees of Beloit College and the Regents of the University of California. This Module has been developed under the direction of the ChemLinks Coalition, headed by Beloit College, and the ModularChem Consortium, headed by the University of California at Berkeley. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation grants No. DUE-9455918 and DUE-9455924. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, Beloit College, or the Regents of the University of California.

    Published through exclusive license with W. W. Norton.
    Why Does the Ozone Hole Form? ISBN 0-393-92431-9


    This page maintained by George Lisensky, Beloit College. Last modified September 29, 2007.
    Ozone Hole | ChemConnections