Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), once widely used as refrigerants and aerosol propellants, are chemically stable in the lower atmosphere but photodissociate in the stratosphere under intense ultraviolet radiation, releasing highly reactive chlorine atoms that catalytically destroy stratospheric ozone (O3) through repeated chain reactions, making CFCs the principal man-made agents responsible for stratospheric ozone depletion (including the Antarctic ozone hole).
In the stratosphere, CFC molecules are broken apart by intense ultraviolet radiation, releasing free chlorine atoms. Each chlorine atom can catalytically destroy a large number...
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