Atmosphere ultraviolet radiation

For process water, steel pipes are used unless iron pickup is to be minimized. Plastic pipes (polyethylene and polyvinylchloride) are used but they sometimes need external protection from solvents present in industrial atmospheres, ultraviolet radiation (including sunlight), freezing and mechanical damage. 

Since the atmosphere shields us from most deep ultraviolet radiation and from infrared radiation, the bulk of visible light (the solar spectrum) ranges from 350 to 750 nm. The 25,000 Frauenhofer15 "dark" lines are interruptions (in the range 295 to 1000 nm) in the continuous solar emission spectrum, due to absorption by the chemical elements present in the sun s atmosphere. Ultraviolet radiation was discovered by Ritter16 in 1801. Some radio waves do penetrate the earth s atmosphere, and they are most intense during solar storms. Infrared radiation also penetrates to some extent. 

Measurements of ozone (O3) concentrations in the atmosphere are of particular importance. Ozone absorbs strongly in the ultraviolet region and it is this absorption which protects us from a dangerously high dose of ultraviolet radiation from the sun. The vitally important ozone layer lies in the stratosphere and is typically about 10 km thick with a maximum concentration about 25 km above the surface of the earth. Extreme depletion of ozone in a localised part of the atmosphere creates what is known as an ozone hole. 

Although inert in the lower atmosphere (troposphere), the hilly halogenated CFCs and Halons diffuse into the upper stratosphere where they are photodissociated, ie, photolyzed, by the intense ultraviolet radiation. 

The Kestner-Johnson dissolver is widely used for the preparation of silver nitrate (11). In this process, silver bars are dissolved in 45% nitric acid in a pure oxygen atmosphere. Any nitric oxide, NO, produced is oxidized to nitrogen dioxide, NO2, which in turn reacts with water to form more nitric acid and nitric oxide. The nitric acid is then passed over a bed of granulated silver in the presence of oxygen. Most of the acid reacts. The resulting solution contains silver at ca 840 g/L (12). This solution can be further purified using charcoal (13), alumina (14), and ultraviolet radiation (15). 

An important effect of air pollution on the atmosphere is change in spectral transmission. The spectral regions of greatest concern are the ultraviolet and the visible. Changes in ultraviolet radiation have demonstrable adverse effects e.g., a decrease in the stratospheric ozone layer permits harmful UV radiation to penetrate to the surface of the earth. Excessive exposure to UV radiation results in increases in skin cancer and cataracts. The worldwide effort to reduce the release of stratospheric ozone-depleting chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons is directed toward reducing this increased risk of skin cancer and cataracts for future generations. 

About 51 percent of solar energy incident at the top of the atmosphere reaches Earth s surface. Energetic solar ultraviolet radiation affects the chemistry of the atmosphere, especially the stratosphere where, through a series of photochemical reactions, it is responsible for the creation of ozone (O,). Ozone in the stratosphere absorbs most of the short-wave solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and some long-wave infrared radiation. Water vapor and carbon dioxide in the troposphere also absorb infrared radiation. 

The composition of the planetary atmospheres is fairly constant. This is indeed surprising in view of the fact that molecules such as methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide are easily decomposed by the ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Presumably other reactions regenerate those substances that are light sensitive. 

Ozone (O3) is continuously being generated in the atmosphere by the action of solar ultraviolet radiation of wavelengths shorter than about 220 nm on molecular oxygen (O2) to form atomic oxygen (O), followed by the recombination of O-atoms with O ... 

Reactions 1 to 4 are known collectively as the Chapman mechanism (first outlined by Sidney Chapman (1) in 1930. They basically explain how ozone can exist in the stratosphere in a dynamic balance it is continuously being produced by the action of solar ultraviolet radiation on oxygen molecules and destroyed by several natural chemical processes in the atmosphere. 

The Antarctic ozone hole is the result of anthropogenic release of trace gases into the atmosphere (CFCs in particular), causing a decrease in stratospheric ozone and a subsequent increase in solar ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth s surface. 

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a natural fraction of the solar radiation, and therefore has always influenced life in aquatic ecosystems. The development of oxygenic photosynthesis 2.5-2 J billion years ago (Holland 1984) led to drastic chemical changes in the Earth s oceans and atmosphere. The gradual increase in photosyn-thetically produced oxygen over millions of years was accompanied by a strong enrichment of it in the atmosphere, which ultimately acted as precursor for the ozone (03) layer in the stratosphere. 

Ozone has a very distinctive pungent odor. It exists in our lower atmosphere in very small trace amounts. In higher concentrations it is irritating and even poisonous. Ozone is in relatively low concentrations at sea level. In the upper atmosphere, where it is more concentrated, it absorbs ultraviolet radiation, which protects the Earth and us from excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation. 

Ozone (O3) is formed in the tropical stratosphere, around 12 to 30 miles above the ground, where solar radiation is intense it then migrates to the polar regions. The O3 concentration can be as high as 10 ppm in the stratosphere there, it absorbs a large part of the harmfirl ultraviolet radiation from the sun, thereby protecting life on Earth. CFCs are volatile and persist in the lower atmosphere (the troposphere) because of their inert nature they resist chemical degradation reactions. It is estimated that... 

The role of CFCs in the destruction of ozone in the stratosphere was something of a surprise to some researchers because those compounds are normally quite stable. In fact, their stability is one of their most desirable properties for many industrial and commercial applications. But, when CFCs escape into the atmosphere and drift upward, they are exposed to ultraviolet radiation in sunlight and, as is oxygen itself, are dissociated by that radiation. In the case of Freon-12 (CCI2F2), photodissociation results in the formation of free chlorine atoms ... 

---