Could chlorine in an outdoor swimming pool be harm full to the environment and...

  • Thread starter Thread starter figuresk8emily
  • Start date Start date
F

figuresk8emily

Guest
...decrease the ozone layer? It should go along with CFCs (chloroflorocarbons)
 
The chlorine used in a swimming pool is not like CFC chlorine. It is still not very good for the environment, but the substance used is denser than air, so they won't drift upwards to the ozone layer, and thus can never react with it.
 
Yes. The explanation is a bit complicated depending on your level of study but it involved radical mechansims (see Wikipedia or similar website). Basically the Cl-Cl bond in chlorine is cleaved creating a Cl radical. This heavy Cl radical bumps into an oxygen molecule in ozone, removing it. Therefore, you are left with oxygen gas and an O radical. But the original Cl radical is not consumed, so the reaction keeps occuring destroying more ozone.
 
Back
Top