Atmospheric Ozone Concentration Measurements

Abstract

In 1840 the chemist Christian Friedrich Schoenbein observed that the odour generated during electrical discharges in air (including thunderstorms) and when decomposing water by an electric current has the same source. In his opinion this odour is attributable to a gas, which he termed ozone (from the Greek Oζ meaning odour). We note some of the physical properties of ozone in Table 1. The optical absorption and emission properties of ozone are of relevance in this chapter. The absorption of energy by an ozone molecule may involve electronic transitions and changes in the vibrational and rotational energies of the molecule. Excessive electronic excitation results in ionisation while excess excitation of the vibrational energy, results in dissociation (11.09 eV).