Date:         Fri, 20 Dec 1996 01:42:57 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tonya Pope <galba@premier.net>
Subject:      Re: two questions

Casey, Tim wrote:
> 
> >Gregory Mitch Daughtry wrote " O1 would be ozone, the stuff that is created
> when fluorocarbons >released from aerosol cans combine with O2.  Ozone is
> much lighter than O2, that's why it rises way up >there and floats. Hence
> the much touted ozone layer.  So maybe in that sense it is not a condensed
> >version, it's the run of the mill oxygen that we all enjoy so much."
> 
> Actually, O3 is ozone, and that makes it heavier than O2.  I'll stop
> here....
> 
> Tim Casey
> Environmental Scientist

If ancient chemistry memory serves me correctly, while an ozone molecule
does have a greater mass than a 'regular' oxygen molecule, it's less
dense.  That's why it rises, because a liter of ozone is lighter than a
liter of oxygen.  That extra oxygen atom is really trying to get out of
the ozone molecule (3's a crowd--remember) so the molecule is bigger, so
it's weight is taking up more room, making it less dense.  The reason
ozone forms is because one oxygen atom is let go by the
fluorcarbon-types and can't go around unescorted, so tags along with a
couple of oxygen buddies.

That's all for Friday's chemistry lesson class.

Tonya
87 Vanagon GL Wolfs (which, miraculously, is working great!)
74 S. Beetle