This year, I am teaching at a home school tutorial for PAY! This is the first month in my life I have ever been paid to teach. My subject is Physical Science. I think I was asked to teach this subject because of my math background and the amount of math in this suject. I am convinced I am the one learning the most from the class. I am thankful our text is written from a Godly perspective by Dr Jay Wile. (However the lack of visuals through the book leaves a lot of room for improvement). At any rate - here are some more interesting facts we covered last week as we studied the Ozone Hole and how the media is trying to scare us all to death.
The first layer of the atmosphere is the troposphere from ground level to about 7 miles above sea level. In the layer, our weather takes place, the clouds form, and air is most concentrated. It is interesting that GOD created the Ozone Layer to filter the powerful UV rays from the sun. Without ozone, we would receive more rays than our bodies could handle. GOD placed the Ozone above the troposphere in the stratosphere. Here the Ozone is far enough away from HIS children that they cannot breathe it (ozone is poisonous) and it can perform its essential fuctions.
Ozone is formed when 3 Oxygen atoms are joined and it's chemical name is O3. If you remember from chemistry class, Oxygen atoms are always looking for a couple of friends to hook up with because they always prefer to have a party of 8 electrons in their outer shells as opposed to the 6 outer ones Oxygen contains.
When the energy from the sun's light penetrates Earth's atmosphere, the Ozone filters the harmful rays. This energy busts up some of the O3 molecules into O. So here we find one way God designed the atmosphere to replinish Oxygen we need to breathe (plants help too). When the O3 molecules are broken apart - New Oxygen is the result. So you see, on any given day, the sunlight constantly depletes some of the ozone naturally. If this didn't happen, life on earth couldn't exist as we know it because there wouldn't be enough oxygen to breathe.
God designed another natural way to replish the Ozone - Lightening. So the creation of Ozone and the depletion of Ozone are some of nature's fine balancing acts God set in motion. Why did HE do this? For us!
Did you know a scientist - Dr. Dobson discoverd the "Ozone Hole" years before CFC's were manufatured in the US? Yes, the Ozone Hole was present before man invented the evil CFC's for our own selfish purposes. CFC is short for Chloro floro carbons - which are used as cooling agents in a/c units, refrigeration, and also in aerosols. CFC's have been blamed for more than a decade for causing the Ozone Hole over Antartica. Dr Dobson discovered this natural, unexplained phenomenon, occuring each year from August through November over Antartica. The Polar Vortex (seasonal winds) cause an updraft and the Ozone layer thins out over the South Pole. Then in November, it begins to thicken again. Some CFC's are able to travel through the troposphere into the stratosphere, but not nearly as many as are released by us humans on a daily basis. The ones which make it to the stratosphere near the south pole are sucked up into the ozone layer by the Polar Vortex. Under proper conditions, CFC's are able to break up some ozone. But there is not enough concrete evidence to say that CFC's are responsible for the entire thining of the Ozone Layer! What would explain the Ozone's ability to become more concentrated from November-July. Do women quit using hairspray? Do us humans not use our a/c, or refrigerators during those 10months? What about the fact that the Hole was present before we began manufacturing CFC's? Why is the media trying to scare us to death? Again we must always question the political motives over such hype with often turns out to be a half truth.
It is interesting to note a "news report" claiming an alarming rise in death rates from skin cancer in Austrailia because of the Ozone Hole. Folks, the Ozone hole is present only over Antartica where conditions are not favorable to life to exist. There are no ozone holes over Austrailia!
Also, our government began phasing out the production of CFC's over 10 years ago. Again our country is not sitting idle when it comes to protecting the world God created for us. Our air is cleaner than many other developing countries. Cars are designed to reduce pollution regardless of size. Yes we know a larger vehicle will burn more fuel than a smaller one, but overall, the exhaust from all newer models has been reduced over the years. I would love to see our country set the precedent for high environmental stardards. But lets make the issue what it should be - cleaner environment for everyone, and not to gratify any political party agenda. Stop scaring the tax paying people to death with half truth's. Take more interest in protecting what God gave us and each other than using our environment as a political pawn.
