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Environmental Science: A Global Concern, 7/e

William P. Cunningham, University of Minnesota
Mary Ann Cunningham, Vassar College
Barbara Woodworth Saigo, St. Cloud State University

Air Pollution

BE ALERT FOR: Ozone, Good and Bad

The text identifies ozone as a highly reactive, very obnoxious air pollutant. Yet the text also says that one of our major air-quality concerns is ozone depletion. How can ozone be both friend and foe?

It all depends on its location. Ozone in the stratosphere has the same properties it has at the earth's surface; it's just that there is nothing to be harmed that high up. We welcome its absorbency of dangerous ultraviolet radiation. In ambient air, however, it's a different matter. Plant and animal tissues and physical materials are all vulnerable to its corrosive powers.

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