Ozone (O3)
What is Ozone?
Ozone is gas made up of oxygen. It structure consists of three oxygen atoms o3 ozone can be found in the naturally occurring environment and is also caused by human activities.of the United States.
Is Ozone good?
Natural ozone can be found in the Earth's stratosphere. There is a layer of ozone that protects Earth from some of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. Ultraviolet radiation can be harmful and the ozone layer acts as a protective barrier between the Earth and the Sun's harmful radiation.
Where does Ozone come from??
Man-Made ozone is a byproduct of many different processes. It could be the result of air pollutants from car exhaust or industrial pollutants. Also, VOCs and other air pollutants. Such as nitrogen oxide can react to create ozone in the lower atmosphere. Some office equipment produces a large amount of ozone such as printers and copiers of the laser variety. Some emitters of ozone are industrial and electric utility facilities, exhaust from vehicles, especially diesel vehicles. The vapors from fuels such as gasoline and diesel. It also is emitted from solvents paint and paint thinners. Which all of these also contain VOCs.
Is ozone harmful?
Ozone does have a few negative health effects for humans in all living things. Ozone creates oxidation in rapid fashion by being an unstable oxygen molecule. This molecule reacts quickly with the environment causing things to age and break down more quickly. It can cause rubber to dry out and plastic to fade and crack. For this reason it is thought that ozone treatment in a building or room can eliminate odors by causing the particles creating the odor to age more quickly and degrade. This same process causes damage to lung tissues and other adverse health effects because the oxygen molecule is unstable and reacts with the tissues in the lungs quickly.
How do I prevent ozone exposure?
Ozone is mostly prevalent in outdoor air due to pollution. Heavily industrialized areas and areas with lots of vehicle traffic have the highest levels of ozone. Warm summer days with low amounts of wind create the highest amount of ozone outdoors. Keeping the windows open in these circumstances creates a high level of ozone in the home. Also, some devices such as printers and photocopiers and other electronic devices can emit ozone inside of buildings. To minimize ozone inside the home, it is important to monitor outdoor ozone levels from a trusted source that is monitoring the levels. And prevent printers and photocopiers from operating in living spaces. Ozone is a large molecule and can be captured in filters. The use of a Merv 12 or higher filter can eliminate ozone through your heating and cooling system.
Monitoring your level of ozone with a monitoring device. Can help you to understand where ozone is occurring and help you to mitigate the amount of ozone in your living space.
Are ozone generating air filters helpful?
It is presumed that an ozone generator may remove smells from the environment by oxidizing the smell. Creating molecules more quickly and this process can be dangerous to human health as it raises the level of ozone in the indoor environment. These types of ozone generators should never be used while the home is occupied. The home should be thoroughly ventilated before it is occupied by people or animals.