🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <pacsoftDGEwp9.H1F@netcom.com>, pacsoft@netcom.com (Wilhelm
Sarasalo) wrote:

> I just read an article in L.A. times. That article claims, and I have
> seen this claim before, that destroying Earth's Ozone layer leads
> to global warming.
> 
I can't speak to the global warming issue, but as to ozone, I have
something to contribute.  My father, who is a nuclear engineer, has always
maintained that freon, which is much heavier than air, would not reach the
ozone layer in large enough amounts to cause a problem.  Following is an
exerpt from a message he sent me on the subject.  He goes on to explain
what he thinks causes the hole in the ozone layer, and the
political/economic motivation behind the freon ban.  It makes sense to
me.  Let me know what you think.

"...the molecular weight of Freon-12 is 120.9
and air runs about 28.9.  Chlorine, escaping from pools
and water treatment plants, clorox around the home, etc.  is 
a more likely culprit, but it has a molecular weight of
about 71! (two atoms per molecule at 34.453 atomic weight)

What I was running on about the other night....was the Auroras.
Borealis and Australis.  You might remember two spectacular 
nights in Idaho in the Winter of 1957-58, when the sunspot
activity was throwing such tremendous clouds of protons at
us, that it warped the magnetic field enough to drag the
north pole close to Idaho.  It looked like a giant wagon-
wheel in the sky, with a "hub" directly overhead, and green, 
red, blue and yellow blobs of "solar wind" sweeping into the 
center from the periphery.  About three seconds to make the 
trip.  The Earth's magnetic field is a radiation shield,
because when you try to force charged particles crossways
through a magnetic field, the particles spiral around the
lines and slide both ways into the poles.  As they slow down 
(lose energy) their rate of reaction with air molecules goes 
way up, until they lose their last energy in a burst at the 
end of their path.  It's analogous to focusing the Sun's
thermal and light radiation with a magnifying glass.  Don't 
tell me that can't explain why holes get "burned" in the
ozone layer over the poles.  And It's been going on for
billions of years."

He goes on to discuss how third world countries had started selling freon
very cheaply, and this made the freon marking unprofitable for DuPont:

"The Country is Indonesia.  They have multiple islands, with 
oil and gas deposits onshore and offshore.  The gas bubbles 
out like CO-2 from soda pop as the oil depresurizes on the
way to the surface, so you either have to use it, burn it in 
flares, or refrigerate it clear down to -259 degrees
Fahrenheit to make LNG out of it for economical ocean
shipment.  It's cheaper to take chlorine out of the ocean
and fluorine from fluorite deposits and substitute them for 
the four hydrogens in methane (Natural gas is about 87%
methane and 8 or 9% ethane plus heavier things.  Since
DuPont's patents on Freon have long since run out, and third 
world countries like Indonesia were chasing them out of the 
market, it made sense for them to convince their buddies in 
Congress that public welfare demands outlawing Freon-12 and 
going to one that they either could control, or would take
years for the competition to catch up.

Somewhere around here, I've got a beutiful 7- or 8-page
paper by a PhD in Mensa about the whole Freon thing.  I
thought you might have it, already.  If I can't find it, I
can get another from a friend in the Sales Dept who has been 
forwarding it all around."