Surface Ozone, Dangerous Polutant

By Novita Ambarsari



Ozone…
• Ozone or trioxygen (O3) is a triatomic molecule, consisting of three oxygen atoms.
• Ozone is a powerful oxidizing agent, far better than dioxygen.
• It is also unstable at high concentrations, decaying to ordinary diatomic oxygen (in about half an hour in atmospheric conditions)
• Ozone will oxidize metals (except gold, platinum, and iridium).

Ozone…
• Ozone in atmosphere :
“Good” ozone : on stratosphere
“Bad” Ozone : on surface
• Good ozone :
protect the earth from UVB
• Bad ozone :
dangerous for human health

How surface ozone can be created..??
Ozone on surface air, is not emitted directly into the air, but is created by a chemical reaction between nitrogen oxides (NOX) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of heat and strong sunlight.

Pollutants that cause ozone come from motor vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions, gasoline vapors, chemical solvents, and vegetation.


How Does "Bad" Ozone Affect Human Health and the Environment?
• Inhaling ground-level ozone can damage lung tissue and irritate the respiratory system.
• It can aggravate asthma and other respiratory diseases, reduce lung function, and inflame and damage lung tissue.
• Ground-level or "bad" ozone also damages vegetation and ecosystems.

How Does "Bad" Ozone Affect Human Health and the Environment?
• It leads to reduced agricultural crop and commercial forest yields.
• Reduced growth and survivability of tree seedlings, and increased susceptibility to diseases, pests and other stresses such as harsh weather.
• Because ozone forms in hot weather, anyone who spends time outdoors in the summer may be affected.

Index ozone level
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed an Air Quality index to help explain air pollution levels to the general public.
• Eight-hour average ozone concentrations of 85 to 104 ppbv are described as "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups“.
• 105 ppbv to 124 ppbv as "unhealthy“.
• 125 ppb to 404 ppb as "very unhealthy".

Surface Ozone Characteristics
• Surface ozone concentration increases during the day when UV light and human activities increases too.

Ozone as a greenhouse gas
• The increase in ozone is of further concern because ozone present in the upper troposphere acts as a greenhouse gas, absorbing some of the infrared energy emitted by the earth.
• Quantifying the greenhouse gas potency of ozone is difficult because it is not present in uniform concentrations across the globe.
• The scientific review on the climate change (the IPCC Third Assessment Report[22]) suggests that the radiative forcing of tropospheric ozone is about 25% that of carbon dioxide.

Conclusion..
• Surface ozone is a dangerous pollutant because it damages human health, agricultural, and ecosystem.
• Surface ozone become one of the green house gases and contribute to the climate change of earth.
• Concentration of the surface ozone depens on the UV light, human activities, the area, the population, and the season.