Question

How many ozone particles are needed to form 24 particles of oxygen gas?

Answer 1

First, you have to know the chemical formula of ozone and oxygen gas. Oxygen gas is O₂; it is one of the few gases that are diatomic in nature. The chemical formula of ozone is O₃. In oxygen gas, there are 2 particles of the oxygen element, while there are 3 particles for the ozone. There might be a slight difference but this induces a great difference in their properties. Oxygen is essential to living things because this is the gas that we breathe in. However, ozone is not safe to breathe in. It is a very strong oxidizing agent, almost 4 times as strong as the oxygen. Its main function is to block the UV rays from entering the Earth's atmosphere which can be harmful to our health.

Having known their chemical formula and properties, we know that an oxygen gas has 2 particles of oxygen element. So, if there are 24 particles of oxygen gas, that would mean 48 particles of the oxygen element. Since an ozone compound contains 3 particles of the oxygen element, then 48/3 = 16. It would take 16 particles of ozone to form 24 particles of the oxygen gas.