The craze over CFCs lasted until 1974 when Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina announced their shocking findings. They revealed that unlike other less stable compounds, CFCs didn't break down like they should. They float around for years in the lower atmosphere, then eventually rise to the stratosphere, where they burst from the solar radiation. This process took place for years, and took a toll on a stratum layer in the stratosphere that we call the ozone layer. The ozone layer is made of oxygen, and as the CFCs were released, the chlorine atom of the compound would react with the oxygen in the atmosphere and eventually destroy it. Sherwood and Molina predicted that at the rate that CFCs were being released, they would start the decomposition of the ozone layer. Although CFCs have long been banned and tons of treaties were made, there are still billions of CFC-containing refrigerators floating around in the atmosphere.
Sherwood Rowland (above)
Mario Molina (below)
Mario Molina (below)