The Particle Nature of Light Video Lessons

Concept

# Problem: Without stratospheric ozone (O3), harmful solar radiation would cause gene alterations. Ozone forms when the bond in O2 breaks and each O atom reacts with another O2 molecule. It is destroyed by reaction with the Cl atoms formed when the C—Cl bond in synthetic chemicals breaks. Find the wavelengths of light that can break the C—Cl bond and the bond in O2.

###### FREE Expert Solution

Bond energy = energy needed to break bond

Bond energy for C-Cl bond = 339 kJ/mol

Bond energy for O=O bond  = 498 kJ/mol

Recall that the energy of a photon (E) is given by: (E/photon)

Also, recall that the frequency (v) and wavelength (λ) are related:

Rearranging and plugging (2) into (1) will give us:

$\overline{){\mathbf{E}}{\mathbf{=}}\frac{\mathbf{hc}}{\mathbf{\lambda }}}$

###### Problem Details

Without stratospheric ozone (O3), harmful solar radiation would cause gene alterations. Ozone forms when the bond in O2 breaks and each O atom reacts with another O2 molecule. It is destroyed by reaction with the Cl atoms formed when the C—Cl bond in synthetic chemicals breaks. Find the wavelengths of light that can break the C—Cl bond and the bond in O2.