That's a bit of a loaded question. Yes, CFCs are heavier than air.
But being heavier than air doesn't necessarily mean that it won't mix
with air. If you think about it the air is made up of a bunch of
different gasses all with different weights and yet they're all mixed
together uniformly. The reason for this is that the atmosphere is
turbid, and any difference in the density of the gasses is dwarfed by
the mixing caused by wind currents.
Look at it this way. The ozone we're worried about is heavier than
air, yet it's higher in the atmosphere. If his argument held we would
all be poisoned under a big sheet of ozone.
~Paul
On Sep 27, 2004, at 2:29 PM, pethier@isd.net wrote:
> It is my understanding that CFCs have been banned as propellants and
> refrigerants because they are supposed to harm the ozone layer.
>
> I friend of mine insists that CFCs are heavier than air, and thus
> cannot
> rise to the ozone layer. His contention is that the whole thing was
> dreamed up for political purposes.
>
> So what is the truth here? Are CFCs really heavier than air?
>
> Phil Ethier
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