Let's start with natural ozone in the atmosphere. The third atom is loosely held to the new ozone molecule which gives it a 20 to 100 hour half-life. Nature produces ozone in other ways, too. The electrical discharge of lightning creates ozone, which is why the air smells so fresh and clean after a thunderstorm. The ozone has oxidized the pollutants in the air.
Many people even hang their laundry out to dry after a thunderstorm to capture the fresh scent.
Yet like most things in nature, there is danger in excess. It sounds like the perfect scenario for air-pollution cleanup. The problem is ozone wants to oxidize everything. Accordingly, excessive exposure can irritate people's lungs, eyes and skin. Just as fire oxidizes organic matter and changes one substance to another substance, ozone will destroy a molecule through oxidation.