Oxygen is O2 and Ozone is O3. Totally different things. O is an atom that we call oxygen. O2 is a molecule made up of two oxygen atoms - it's the oxygen we breathe. Keep in mind the air we breathe is mostly (about 78%) nitrogen (N). The O2 part of the air is very important for us. Our lungs pull out the O2 from the air and put it in our blood. That little thing they stick on your pointer finger in the hospital will attest to that. It measures the oxygen saturation in your blood and it needs to be about 95% or better for most people.
O3, with the three oxygen atoms, is less stable. That extra atom can cling on to other things. Ozone is used for odor control, for instance. That extra atom can cling onto atoms causing smells. Up in our atmosphere, high above the earth is a whole layer of O3. That extra atom can also cling onto ultra-violet rays from the sun. Anyway, we need a lot of O3 up in the sky or the sun's effect on us becomes even more harmful than my fair skin can tolerate.
A couple dozen years ago, the world made up it's mind to do away with gasses and chemicals that might cause the oxygen atom in the O3 to break off from it's two brothers. That's when we did away with most aerosol sprays and similar items. Evidently, that concept has worked. The damage we have done to that layer of ozone (O3) seems to be regressing and is expected to repair itself completely in the next two decades.
Good job, world.
This is dedicated to my good friend John Jackobs, a chemist among many other things, who left this world today and left it in a better place for his being here.
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