Do space rockets do more damage to the delicate ozone layer than cars?

The ozone layer is a thin layer of gases which one would assume would dissapate when ripped thru with a massive space rocket.


We all know there are such things as holes in the ozone layer but how do they realy get there. I can't help but to look at the obvious!


This is not to say that there are not other causes aswell but simply, maybe we should leave outer space as just that and forget about wanting to be the next on the moon. Especially if it will be the demise of this great planet.Do space rockets do more damage to the delicate ozone layer than cars?
Some rocket launches that use certain kinds of fuel (such as the space shuttle solid rocket boosters) can damage to the ozone layer, but there are so few launches that the total damage is still much less than releases of Freon and other CFCs.





However, some other rockets, notably the Delta 4 heavy, do not use solid rocket boosters. They burn only hydrogen and oxygen, producing only water vapor as exhaust. That is not damaging to the ozone layer. The shuttle main engines also burn hydrogen and oxygen, but they need the help of the solid rocket boosters for the first minute or two of flight.Do space rockets do more damage to the delicate ozone layer than cars?
OK, gas is a fluid, and by delicate layer, it is still rather thick. Ozone is just a combination of oxygen molecules that forms due to UV light (it ionizes the regular oxygen molecules). And by ozone layer they mean that its in a higher concentration there then in other places, its not like a 2 inch sheet of pure O3. Its kind of like ice floating on water, the water is constantly melting the ice, which is having water freeze to its surface. Depending on the temperature, one reaction or the other will win, or it can stay stable. So if you put a straw through your glass, the ice will move around it. when you remove the straw it will move back into the openning it created (gases do this as well - diffusion). Also as the rockets are usually fairly aerodynamic, they dont want to waste energy by creating large suctions behind the ship.





The hole in the ozone layer is due to other chemicals such as CFCs which react with ozone to break it down (think ice in hot water). These tend to migrate towards the poles due to winds and whatnot - if you look at prevailing wind patterns, the poles are large convergence zones.
Your understanding of the ozone layer is badly distorted. It is NOT a ';thin layer of gases. Its a region of the atmosphere about 30-50 km up where there is a higher concentration of O3 (ozone). Passing through it does not ';rip it apart'; any more than you ';rip'; the air apart when you move around. That myth was perpetrated by people who know nothing about science--they just like to make people think they do.





And in any case, neither cars nor rockets can hurt the ozone layer. The only damage ever caused by human action was the introduction of CFCs into the atmosphere. Those chemicals break down ozone chemically--but their production was stopped decades ago--and the ozone layer is slowly beginning to recvver as the CFCs break down.





We have enough real environmental problems you can learn about and talk about--without wasting your efforts on myths.
Don't be stupid.......space rockets?????
Rockets don't poke the holes we read about that are in the ozone layer. The holes are many thousands of kilometers in size, whereas the largest rockes are about 30 meters in diameter and the exhaust is possibly 50-75 meters in diameter. Also, the ozone layer is not that thin of a layer, and is being continually replenished by photochemical processes.





Ozone is destroyed by chemicals that prevent molecular oxygen from dissociating into molecular oxygen and recombining as O3 (ozone). While rocket exhaust may contain some of these chemicals, the number of rockets and the mass of the exhaust is greatly exceeded by the mass of automobile exhaust worldwide, and the mass of other chemicals released into the atmosphere from other sources.





I would be much more concerned with jet engine exhaust than rocket exhaust. The total mass of jet exhaust is much greater than rocket exhaust worldwide.
No...but cows do...read the reference article...