Article: Dissolved Ozone In Pharmaceutical Water Systems Why Use And Measure Dissolved Ozone

Ozone is a naturally occurring triatomic form of oxygen (O3) and exists in the gas form in nature. Familiar sources of ozone are lightning in the atmosphere, the sun's UV in the upper stratosphere creating the infamous "ozone layer", and copy machines or laser printers. Ozone forms when oxygen comes in contact with ultraviolet (UV) energy wavelength of 185 nm. The UV energy splits the oxygen molecule which then reattaches to another oxygen molecule.

The resulting unstable ozone gas molecule wants to revert back to the stable diatomic oxygen molecule (O2). In order to do this, it must react with another compound or transfer energy through another source. This makes ozone an oxidizer. In fact, it is one of the strongest oxidizers known to man.