Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) :: essays research papers fc

ChloroflourocarbonsChloroflourocarbons were notice in the 1920s by Thomas Midgley, anorganic chemist at full general Motors Corporation. He was looking for inactive, non-toxic, non-flammable compounds with low boiling points that could be expenditured asrefrigerants. He found what he was looking for in the form of dickens compoundsdichlorodifluoromethane (CFC-12) and trichloromonoflouromethane (CFC-11). Inboth compounds, different bills of chlorine and fluorine are feature withmethane, which is a combination of carbon and hydrogen. These two CFCs wereeventually manufactured by E.I. du Pont de Nemours and company, and, under thetrade name freon, constituted 15% of the market for refrigerator gases.CFCs were the perfect answer for cooling refrigerators and airconditioners. They were easily turned into smooth at room temperature withapplication of just a small amount of pressure, and they could easily then beturned back into gas. CFCs were completely inert and not poisonous to compassionates.They became ideal solvents for industrial solutions and hospital sterilants.Another use found for them was to blow lucid plastic into various kinds offoams.In the 1930s, home plate insecticides were bulky and hard to use, so CFCswere created because they could be kept in liquid form and in an only slightlypressurized poop. Thus, in 1947, the disperse can was born, selling millions ofcans each year. Insecticides were only the first application for CFC scatter cans.They soon employed a number of products from deodorant to hair spray. In 1954,188 million cans were sold in the U.S. alone, and four years later, the numberjumped to vitamin D million. CFC filled cans were so popular that, by 1968, 2.3billion spray cans were sold in America.The hopes of a seemingly perfect refrigerant were small-scale in the late1960s when scientists studied the decomposition of CFCs in the breeze.What they found was startling. centiliter atoms are released as the CFCsdecompose, thu s destroying the Ozone (O3) atoms in the high stratosphere. Itbecame clear that human usage of CF2Cl2 and CFCl3, and similar chemicals werecausing a negative impact on the chemistry of the high altitude air.When CFCs and other ozone-degrading chemicals are emitted, they mix withthe atmosphere and eventually rise to the stratosphere. CFCs themselves do notactually effect the ozone, alone their decay products do. After they photolyzed,the chlorine eventually ends up as reference species - they do not themselvesreact with ozone- such as Hydrogen Chloride, HCL, or Chlorine Nitrate, ClONO2.These than further decompose into ozone hurting substances. The simplest is asfollows (How do CFCs repeal the Ozone) Cl + O3 ----- ClO + O2 ClO + O