Ozone Ozone (O3) is toxic gas and can have a deleterious effect on human health. It is also a powerful oxidising gas, a potent germicide, and is invisible to the human eye at normal concentrations. However, its presence can often be detected due to its sharp pungent odour, often described as that of new mown hay or electrical discharges. Contrary to some suggestions, ozone is not found at the seaside in any greater quantities than inland. The sea air smell is not that of ozone but of rotting sea life and vegetation. Ozone is produced by splitting an oxygen molecule into two oxygen atoms, after which each of these free oxygen atoms combine with another oxygen molecule to form ozone.
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