Ozone is a gas found in the atmosphere in very trace amounts. Depending on where it is located, ozone can be beneficial ("good ozone") or detrimental ("bad ozone"). On average, every ten million air molecules contains only about three molecules of ozone. Indeed, if all the ozone in the atmosphere were collected in a layer at Earth's surface, that layer would only have the thickness of three dimes. But despite its scarcity, ozone plays very significant roles in the atmosphere. In fact, ozone frequently "makes headlines" in the newspapers because its roles are of importance to humans and other life on Earth.

What Is Ozone?

Chemically, the ozone molecule consists of three atoms of oxygen arranged in the shape of a wide V. Its formula is O₃ (the more familiar form of oxygen that one breathes has only two atoms of oxygen and a chemical formula of O...