Ozone Properties

Ozone /ˈoʊzoʊn/, or trioxygen, is formed by the combination of three oxygen atoms (triatomic form of oxygen).

Ozone (O₃) is a highly reactive gas composed of three oxygen atoms that results in a bluish irritating gas with a pungent odor. It is both a natural and a man-made product that occurs in the Earth’s upper atmosphere (the stratosphere – it absorbs ultraviolet rays, thereby preventing them from reaching the surface of the earth) and lower atmosphere (the troposphere – an air pollutant), produced when an electric spark or ultraviolet light is passed through air or oxygen. Ozone can be used to oxidize, disinfect, bleaching, sterilizing water, purifying air, etc.

Ozone is a colorless to pale blue gas (blue when liquefied) with a strong and distinctively pungent smell (a smell similar to the sense after a thunderstorm).

At -111,9ºC it condenses to form a dark blue liquid, at temperatures below -192,2ºC it forms a violet-black solid.