Corrosive CFCs found to be damaging our ozone layer

Scientists have discovered that Chlorofluorocarbons are destroying our ozone layer rapidly.

What is a Chlorofluorocarbon?

Chlorofluorocarbons are man-made

halocarbons; these halocarbons only contain
the elements chlorine, fluorine and carbon.
CFCs are used as refrigerants, aerosol sprays
and foams for furniture and buildings.

Ozone is a molecule of oxygen (O3 ) found in the stratosphere. The ozone layer’s job in the
stratosphere is to absorb the UV light meaning it can’t travel down to earth. This is so important for
humans because being exposed to UV light can cause skin cancer and is a danger to life on earth.
Although ozone is vital in the stratosphere, ozone is harmful to the troposphere because it is an air
pollutant that is harmful to breathe and damaging to crops and trees. However CFCs are a threat
to the ozone layer.

The major problem with CFCs is the fact they are very stable and unreactive; this allows them to
drift up to the upper atmosphere without interacting with any molecules on the way. Once they are
in the stratosphere the CFCs can react with the UV light to create two radicals: a carbon based
radical and a chlorine radical. This is a big problem because chlorine radicals act as a catalyst
during ozone depletion. Here you can see the mechanism for the chain reaction and why CFCs are
so threatening.

Initiation: Propagation: Overall reaction:

CCl F --(UV Light)--> •CCl F + •Cl
3 2 •Cl + O ---> O + ClO•
3 2 2O --(Cl•)--> 3O
3 2

ClO• + O -> 2O + •Cl

3 2

(The chlorine radical can then react (The chlorine is regenerated at the (The ozone is being
with ozone) end (acts as a CATALYST)) broken down into oxygen)

Overall, we can see that the ozone is being depleted into oxygen which doesn’t have the same
protective effect as ozone. Due to CFCs producing chlorine radicals which catalyse the depletion
of ozone and are hard to remove from the atmosphere CFCs have been banned.

The information was presented to the world in a way that

In 1985 scientists Joe Farman,
Brian Gardiner and Jonathan
Shanklin discovered that above
Antarctica there was a large ‘hole’
in the ozone layer. Nasa backed
the scientist’s discoveries with
satellite images of the ozone over
Antarctica.
scared humans to ensure that they did the correct thing.
This caused the countries who produced the most CFCs to
come together and decide to ban CFCs in order to repair
the ozone, but it wasn’t as easy as that because some CFCs
are used in vital medicines. This means that there is still
some CFC produced but only for these life-threatening
medications. All other CFCs had to be replaced by 1994.

Two possible substitutes for CFCs were HCFs and HCFCs.

HFCs ( Hydrofluorocarbons ) don’t contribute to
the depletion of the ozone layer ( as they don’t
contain chlorine. ) However these substances
have global warming potential. The effects that
the HFCs have are much less dangerous than the
effects of CFCs making them a fairly good
alternative.
HCFCs still contain chlorine and therefore still
contribute to the destruction of the stratospheric
ozone, but they aren’t as threatening as CFCs. As
HCFCs contain hydrogen, they break down more
easily in the atmosphere than CFCs. This makes
them a good alternative to CFCs.
https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/education/info_activities/pdfs/MAA_cfcs.pdf
https://cfpub.epa.gov/airnow/index.cfm?action=gooduphigh.index
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hb6wDnCL6k
https://eapsweb.mit.edu/news/2019/discovery-antarctic-ozone-hole
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB5sZJ_q5Zs
https://www.epa.gov/ozone-layer-protection/international-treaties-and-cooperation-about-protection-
stratospheric-ozone
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK231526/