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Molecular oxygen in the stratosphere is broken into a
pair of oxygen radicals by light with a wavelength of 240 nanometers or less. If
one of these O radicals encounters an oxygen molecule, it can bond to produce
ozone. This reaction is only stable if another molecule is present to absorb the
excess energy released as the oxygen radical and molecule bond. This is a called
a three body reaction, and the third body exhibits its removal of the excess
energy by whizzing off at a higher energy and thereby increasing the temperature
of the atmosphere where this reaction occurs.
[Environmental Science and
Technology; v.25; p.1884; 1991.]
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