Name: Murphy iii
Status: Other
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
Rush Limbaugh has claimed on his famous radio program that ozone
is created when long-wave radiation hits water in the upper atmosphere,
creating diatomic hydrogen and triple bonded Oxygen. The new ozone blocks out
this harmful radiation. Does the ozone hole self-correct this way, given
enough time?
Replies:
Sure, given enough time - that is how we got an ozone layer in the
first place (or so we scientists believe). As long as the rate of destruction
is slower than (or equal to) the rate of creation, the ozone layer should stay
in good shape. The reason that the world has agreed (with the possible
exception of Rush) to limit the discharge of ozone-destroying chemicals is
that our best evidence suggests that the rate of destruction is faster than
the rate of creation, leading to a gradual thinning of the ozone layer.
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