How does the ozone layer protect us from the sun’s radiation?
In: Earth Science
Ozone absorbs, not reflects, a range of UV light called UV-c and UV-b. UV-a still makes it to the surface.
Ozone is O3 and has a funky electronic structure which allows it to break apart into O2 and a free O when it absorbs UV light (UV-c and UV-b specifically).
O3 + UV light -> O2 + O
The mechanism is complicated to explain, but it’s related to atomic energy states. The free oxygen then bounces around until it attaches to O2 and reforms ozone.
Pretty simple, imagine if you saw a purple gas, it means it’s reflecting purple light. ozone is just that, but the “color” it reflects well happens to be a range of UV light that is very bad for our cells.
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