Ozone generators units can generate ozone from the ambient air, so there are no containers, no handling or storage of costly or hazardous materials.  Ozone is one of the most active, readily available oxidizing agents.  It is chemical free, environmentally friendly, and clean.  It disappears completely after its work is done leaving no traces and no production of toxic compounds.  Ozone acts more rapidly and more completely than other common disinfecting agents – much faster and more potent than chlorine.  It reacts effectively on all strains of viruses and microorganisms cannot develop a resistance to ozone.

Ozone is safe if used correctly. Ozone, unlike chlorine bleach is not flammable, is not a poison, and will not damage skin (in fact it is an excellent antibiotic on cuts and abrasions).

In nature, oxygen is regularly transformed into ozone through forces like lightning and when ultra-violet light from the sun strikes the Earth’s atmosphere. The oxygen molecule in the air we breathe is designated as O2. Ozone has an extra oxygen molecule attached so it is designated as O3. Once ozone has done its work, it reverts back to O2 (same as the oxygen we breathe) leaving no residue.

 

Ozone generators produce ozone by sending an electrical current through a dielectric.  As oxygen is pulled through this dialectic, it splits the oxygen (O2) molecule and creates ozone (O3), thus replicating the natural process of ozone created during a lightning storm.

The third oxygen atom of ozone is loosely attached, unstable and reactive.  As it circulates throughout an area or into water, this third atom readily attaches itself to pollutants such as odors, bacteria, viruses, water contaminants, and chlorine.  When ozone (O3) encounters another compound, one oxygen atom will break away, attach itself to the compound and destroy it.  As the single oxygen (O1) molecule oxidizes a toxic particle, it too is destroyed.  This leaves oxygen (O2) as its only byproduct.

The reason that ozone gets the label of “Public Enemy Number One” is that while man-made hydrocarbons are very complex and quite difficult to measure, ozone is very easy to accurately measure. Consequently, ozone has long been used as an indicator for the severity or presence of smog because as the levels of the true components of smog rise, so does the level of ozone. But it is NOT the ozone that is the true villain. Ozone naturally forms not as a true component of smog but, more accurately, as a means of eliminating it. As the levels of VOCs, hydrocarbons, and industrial particulates rise in the air, the ozone level rises too as Mother Nature tries to clean up man’s mess!