Click down and hold on each molecule to display a menu of ways to manipulate them. As you know diatomic oxygen is essential for animal, including human, survival. Ozone is toxic to all living organisms, but yet, because it forms a protective layer in the earth's stratosphere, it is absolutely essential for life on earth.
Ozone is produced as a by-product of burning fossil fuels in automobiles and industrial plants.
It is toxic to living organisms because it is so reactive. The amount of ozone will only decrease when we lower the amount of fossil fuels we burn. Ozone in the upper atmosphere is formed when ultraviolet radiation strikes oxygen molecules and forms atomic oxygen which reacts with molecular oxygen to form ozone. The ozone in our upper atmosphere is essential because it forms a protective blanket, absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation and holding our atmosphere close to the earth. One of the molecules that has been actively destroying the ozone layer is chloroflorocarbon.