What happens when chlorofluorocarbons are released into the atmosphere?
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When chlorofluorocarbons are released into the atmosphere, they move via air currents to altitudes ranging from 15 to 25 mi (25-40 km). There, they are dissociated by ultraviolet light as given by the reaction: CF 2 Cl 2 ___CF 2 Cl_+_Cl. The resulting free chlorine atoms (Cl) decompose ozone (O 3 ) into oxygen (O 2 ), Cl_+_O 3 ___ClO_+_O 2 , and are regenerated by interaction with free oxygen atoms (O), ClO_+_O___Cl_+_O 2 . When chlorine is regenerated, it is free to continue to break down other ozone molecules. This process continues for the atmospheric lifetime of the chlorine atom (one to two years), during which it destroys an average of 100,000 ozone molecules. Chlorine radicals are removed from the stratosphere after forming two compounds that are relatively resistant to dissociation by ultraviolet light: hydrogen chloride (HCl) and chlorine nitrate (ClONO 2 ). Dissociation is slow enough so that these compounds can diffuse down to the troposphere, where they react with water vapor and are removed in rain.
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