Molina and Rowland discovered that these industrially manufactured gases deplete the ozone layer. At the stratosphere, each chlorine atom is capable of destroying about 100,000 ozone molecules before becoming inactive, according to Britannica. There, ultraviolet radiation breaks them into their component elements of chlorine, fluorine and carbon. The ozone layer protects Earth from dangerous solar radiation, especially ultraviolet rays.Īt the University of California, Irvine, Molina and Rowland conducted experiments on pollutants in the atmosphere, and discovered that chlorofluorocarbon gases rise into the stratosphere. Dutch chemist Paul J Crutzen, American chemist F Sherwood Rowland, and Molina were awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone".Īlso known as the ozonosphere, the ozone layer is the region of the upper atmosphere, between roughly 15 and 35 kilometres above the surface of Earth, and contains relatively high concentrations of ozone molecules, or O 3. Molina received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with two other chemists, for research on the decomposition of the ozone layer. Chlorofluorocarbons were found in air conditioners and aerosol sprays.Īll about Molina’s work on the ozone layer The doodle also shows the hole in the ozone layer, and denotes the fact that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) contributed to the formation of the ozone hole. The ozone layer protects Earth from the Sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation. Google pays tribute to him through a doodle which depicts the molecular form of ozone, O 3, as one of the 'Os' of 'GOOGLE', and replaces the other 'O' with the Sun. Mamarks the 80th birth anniversary of Molina. Google Doodle Today: The Google Doodle of Mais dedicated to Mexican chemist Mario Molina, who is famous for his work on the ozone layer.
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