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Asked by dean1000 to Daniel, Jon, Louise, Sharon, Zoe on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
Question: When will the Ozone Layer collapse if we dont stop using as much energy
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Louise Dash answered on 22 Jun 2010:
Hi Dean!
The ozone layer’s important because it filters out lots of the dangerous UV light from the sun, which is one of the main causes of skin cancer.
It’s not energy as such that’s damaging the ozone layer, but certain gases, which break down the ozone molecules and stop them filtering the UV. In the past, gases called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were used a lot in aerosol sprays and fridges and these were particularly damaging to the ozone layer. Their use started to be controlled in the late 1980s and they were banned completely in 1996, and there’s evidence to show that the ozone layer has recovered a bit since. It’s thought that the main contributor to ozone layer damage now is nitrous oxide (laughing gas!) which is emitted by industry in nylon production and generated by burning fossil fuels. Most of the nitrous oxide generated on earth comes from the soil (partly because of fertilizer use, partly naturally) and the oceans though.
So hopefully if we continue with environmental measures the ozone layer won’t get any more damaged and maybe even heal itself!
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Sharon Sneddon answered on 22 Jun 2010:
Well the ozone layer is actually being destoyed by the emission of gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrous oxide.
The good news, is that the desruction does seem to be slowing down, and hopefully the ozone layer will repair but recovery of the ozone layer is expected to require several lifetimes.
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Jon Copley answered on 22 Jun 2010:
The ozone layer gets damaged by chemicals called CFCs, which used to be used in fridges and aerosol cans. The ozone layer is important because it protects us from UV rays from the Sun, which cause skin cancer among other things. Fortunately countries have signed a treaty agreeing not to use CFCs any more, and hopefully the ozone layer will be back to normal by the end of the century.
But the problem that we’ve had with the ozone layer is different to the “global warming” problems that are caused by putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (and that happens when we use energy). Carbon dioxide comes from burning fossil fuels like coal to make energy, and so far countries haven’t agreed how to stop producing more carbon dioxide.
Predicting what will happen as a result of “global warming” is very difficult, because the Earth and its atmosphere are very complicated. Putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere definitely traps more heat there – that’s a physical fact. But what happens next to that carbon dioxide, and to that heat, and what impact does it have on things like the weather? Those are the kinds of questions that climate scientists try to answer with computer models.
Some of the models predict big changes to the world over the next century or two. They could be wrong – it’s important to always rememeber that they are guesses, although they are the best guesses science can make at the moment. But they could be right – and that’s why people are trying to use less energy, so that we slow down the rate at which we are putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Incidentally, the guy who came up with the idea of using those ozone-damaging CFC chemicals in fridges back in the 1920s was called Thomas Midgley – and he also came up with the idea of adding lead to petrol so cars would run better. Although people didn’t know it at the time, both of those inventions turned out to be rather bad for the atmosphere, and we’ve now stopped using both of them!
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