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Mike2
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I wonder if lightning in the upper atmosphere can create ozone? Anybody know what the chemical reaction would be?
kaisxuans said:lighting creating ozone? well, i never heared of it before. but firstly, how would you get lighting up into the upper ozone area?
Mike2 said:Well, I'm thinking if some very large magnetic field waves (possibly from the sun) passed through the atmosphere, then perhaps large currents would be induced, causing lots of lighting, etc. Then I remembered the ionizer/air-cleaner I was owned. It would "ionize" the air and make if smell fresh. I think I remember someone telling me that this was ozone I was breathing.
Has anyone studied whether this is an effect of the sprites that are seen above the clouds by astronaughts?
I wonder if lightning in the upper atmosphere can create ozone? Anybody know what the chemical reaction would be?
sneez said:Chapman reactions explain ozone formation in stratosphere and are applied in explanation of secondary ozone maximum at nighttime around mesopause ~90km, even though the mesospheric chemistry can be quite involved and efficiently driven by atmospheric dynamics.
sneez said:Let me build on what mgb explains already,
The ozone production is initiated by
1) O2 + hv -> O +O
2) O + O2 + M -> O3 + M ;The M stands for whatever 3rd reactant (N2 for example to carry out the energy from the reaction, without the M the reaction proceeds very slowly. Let me stress that this is the ONLY reaction by which ozone is created in the atmosphere.
mgb_phys said:UV radiation from the sun splitting oxygen molecules.
This also has the advantage of absorbing almost all of the uv < 400nm and stopping it reaching the surface, which means little pale skinned creatures are able to live there.
Wait, now I'm confused. I thought it was O3 that was protecting us from UV? But here you are saying that O2 in the upper atmosphere is absorbing UV. Is it both?
mgb_phys said:Lightning does create ozone but not in the ozone layer - that's much too high for there to be much lightning.
You create ozone in the lab in this way with an electrical spark.
Basically the same as the UV except electrical energy rather than a photon.
Chemically I suppose you would write it as
O2 -> O + O
O2 + O -> O3
Can you write;sneez said:mgb, O2 cannot by itself "decay" into two O atoms. There is bond between the 2 atoms that needs to be broken, hence your O2 reaction is not possible.
Ozone is a gas composed of three oxygen atoms and is naturally found in the Earth's atmosphere. It can be created through various natural processes such as lightning, as well as through human activities like pollution.
Lightning creates ozone through a process called electrical discharge. When lightning strikes, the intense heat and energy ionizes oxygen molecules in the air, causing them to combine and form ozone molecules.
No, ozone is not created every time there is lightning. It depends on the intensity and duration of the lightning strike, as well as the concentration of oxygen molecules in the air.
Ozone is created in the lower portion of the stratosphere, which is the layer of the Earth's atmosphere located between 6 and 30 miles above the surface. This is where lightning strikes typically occur.
Ozone created by lightning can have both positive and negative effects on the environment. On one hand, ozone helps to filter out harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. On the other hand, high levels of ozone can contribute to air pollution and have negative impacts on human health and ecosystems.