The Story of Ozone

In nature, there is a cycle of oxygen just like there is a cycle of water. Oxygen is released from plants on land and plankton in the sea during photosynthesis. The oxygen is lighter than air and floats upward in the atmosphere. At the 20-30 km region, strong ultraviolet radiation in the 185-200 nanometer wavelength bombards the oxygen and turns some of it into ozone. The ozone created exists as a thin layer in the atmosphere and it blocks out the small portion of the UV spectrum that it absorbs. The great majority of the UV reaches the earth allowing suntanning, which Dr. Michael Carpendale of the San Francisco Veteran’s Administration Hospital has noted is useful in a very efficacious therapy developed in the early years of this century.