Definition of ozone

The word "ozone" comes from the Greek word "ozein," which means "to smell." This is because the discovery of ozone was first made by Davids Wedderburn and Chapman in the 1880s while studying electrical discharges in the atmosphere. They detected a pungent odor similar to that of oils or resins during some of the experiments, which prompted them to investigate further. It was later identified that the smell was ozone, a gas formed by the union of oxygen molecules in the presence of an electrical discharge or ultraviolet radiation. The name "ozone" was suggested by Christian Friedrich Schönbein, a Swiss chemist, who discovered the properties of ozone and its distinctive odor in 1839. He combined the first two letters of the Greek word "ozein" and the suffix "-one" to create the new scientific term "ozone." Today, ozone is commonly associated with air pollution, as human activities such as burning fossil fuels and industrial emissions lead to an increase in ozone concentrations in the lower atmosphere. However, natural sources such as lightning and volcanoes also contribute to the formation of ozone in the upper atmosphere, or stratosphere, where it provides a shield against harmful solar radiation.