Can we artificially restore the ozone layer?

Question

Apart from widescale tree plantation, is there a way in which we could transform enough carbon dioxide into 02 to restore the ozone layer?

Er...Godiva K...this is a genuine scientific question. I have no idea why you brought Jesus into it. I too am a woman, by the way.

Answer 1

Ozone is actually O3, and it can only be naturally created in the stratosphere by incoming ultraviolet light. The problem with the ozone layer isn't a lack of oxygen -- there's plenty to do the job -- but rather the presence of CFC's that have drifted up there from ground level over the past hundred years or so. Chlorofluorocarbons, in the presence of ultraviolet light, release free chlorine radicals which attack ozone and reduce it to O2 in a catalyzing reaction; it is calculated that each chlorine radical can reduce around 100,000 ozone molecules before reacting with something else and being removed from the stratosphere. So the removal of ozone becomes greater than the generation of ozone and you get a thinning (the ozone "hole" over the Antarctic and Arctic regions is a result of winter vortex winds which tend to concentrate atmospheric contaminants (including CFC's) in that area right around the poles, worsening the local damage.)

Generating ozone at ground level does a lot more harm than good -- you need it about fifteen to twenty kilometers up for it to protect you, and at ground level, because ozone is a powerful oxidizing agent, it can do your body a lot of harm. Add to that the immense expense of generating enough ozone to do any good -- ozone can be artificially created by running an electrical arc through air (it's that "electrical" smell you get before a lightning storm or if your copy machine has been running a long time) The energy requirements to produce the ozone and the logistics of getting it up to the statosphere soon enough to do us any good have already been estimated, and let's just say if you thought your taxes are high now, just wait for the price tag on this project, estimated by some in the tens of quadrillions of dollars to be effective. So basically, if all the nations in the world gave us ALL their money, we could jointly afford to make this project a reality. Ain't gonna happen, sorry to say.

The best way to repair the hole in the ozone layer is to eliminate the use of CFC's as refrigerants in favor of more ecologically friendly gases, and allow nature to repair itself. We're already seeing a gradual decrease in the seasonal size of the ozone hole from the reduction or complete cessation of CFC use by most industrialized nations (some developing nations still use CFC's because they're cheap; we're working on trying to get them to switch as well) It'll take upwards of 50 years before we really see the benefits of this -- takes that long for ground-level gases to rise to the stratosphere through natural circulation.

Answer 2

Don't worry about the ozone layer dude, it'll naturally get restored here in a little while. You see, the reason why people always smell ozone after a lightning strike is because that is exactly how it is created, and a long long time ago Earth really got zapped. Powerful lightning storms, just like our ancient ancestors described as God's hurling their bolts, tore through Earth. All this striking created a whole lot of ozone.

So it's actually natural that all the ozone would start breaking down. Why do I say that it will get replaced, though? Because very soon we're going to be getting zapped again, and it will be craaaazy.

A passing comet will graze Earth with its electric field, and discharge itself onto our planet, which is essentially a big magnet. The bolts will chase after our landfills and dumps, attracted to the metals and things we throw away. This will possibly crush our own filth into the water tabel, and blow our trash everywhere, but it will create a lot of ozone...

Answer 3

A fine idea. Seriously.
However - From the limited education I was around to digest in high school, the only thing that I can recall that generates O3 is an electrical arc....
(Ozone is that smell your drill makes, or that you catch sometimes after lightning)

Answer 4

Ozone layer is actually 03, but im not sure how it would be possible. I am pretty sure the earth does it naturally through Ice Ages.

Answer 5

all Let look at it they said in the ice in country around the north pole there is so many animal it would delete the ozone if the ice if the ice been up there all the year how the animal get there
any way fossil fuel is only 25%the other come from dead animal dead tree

Answer 6

CO2 is whats destroying the ozone layer and because of CO2 emissions the ozone layer will never be right again. and even if it could it would take quadrillions of years

Answer 7

no. the ozone layer will restore itself if we cut down on polution, but you hafta remember that more damage is done to the ozone layer from one eruption of a volcano then bye our polution for x number of years.

Answer 8

actually ozone is O3 not O2. and yes you can make it artificially. but scientists are too busy making nuclear arms rather than spend money on doing that.

from the link here you can see that it is possible.
http://www.understandingozone.com/article_essentialozone.asp

Answer 9

speak that word one more time and my head will explode.. ozone layer,, isn't it enough for you people to critizise us women.. you see,, ripley believe it or not we women are the only toy soldiers of the world,, the on going war that you don't see with your two eyes.. because externally there ain't no war,, internally there are more than billion wars.. in our bodies.. women's bodies,, you see that is why JESUS is acting like this because like she said,, she is a she,, not a he.. layers and layers and layers of their ozone on our stomach after birth,, that under the microscope they look like where the appolo 11,, landed at.. well yeah,, it is there...

Answer 10

NO.!!! the same amount of gasses we will burn to get into space to attempt an artificial repair is the same amount it will take to make an even bigger hole.