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    • 2013 Publication

CFCS, HFCS AND THEIR CASUALTIES

Editor's Note: Lia D.B. ('17) wrote this paper investigating the history of CFCs and HFCs for her organic chemistry class. 
CFCs, also known as chlorofluorocarbons, were discovered in the 1930’s as the “perfect refrigerant.” At the time, CFCs seemed to offer the ideal refrigerant as they fit all of the requirements and more. CFCs have an ideal boiling point which allows them to vaporize and then return to liquid state by compression within the defined temperature range of the refrigerant process (LeCouteur and Burreson, 2004). Additionally, CFCs have extremely stable atomic structures, causing them to be nonflammable, nontoxic, and just about odorless (LeCouteur and Burreson). At the time, CFCs’ stability revolutionized the world of refrigeration, both in the home and in foreign trade. Before the twenties, the majority of households relied on ice boxes to keep food cold, and even still many fruits were canned and meats were salted. CFC’s stability meant that countries could not only ship their produce across seas without worrying about it spoiling, but that they also didn’t have to worry about their ships catching on fire due to flammable refrigerants. Beyond refrigeration, this stability proved to be beneficial in other ways as it reacted with almost nothing, making  it a great propellant in a number of substances such as hair sprays, whipped creams, and pesticides (LeCouteur and Burreson).

​Unfortunately, it wasn’t long until the dark side of the “miracle” molecules were exposed. In the 1970s it was quickly discovered that CFCs’ stability, the exact thing that made them seem so attractive in the first place, caused tremendous problems to our ozone layer (LeCouteur and Burreson). In fact, CFCs are so stable that they do not break down under normal chemical reactions. Instead, CFCs end up floating up to the stratosphere where they eventually get broken down by ultraviolet light. When CFCs come into contact with the ozone molecules the chlorine atoms act as a catalyst and increase the rate at which the ozone molecules break down. This means that the chlorine atoms don’t get used up in the reaction, and will instead destroy a hundred thousand ozone molecules before they ever get deactivated (LeCouteur and Burreson).

Ironically enough, from an economic standpoint, this very idea of a chlorine atom acting as a catalyst is what made CFCs so profitable in the first place. This made it very cheap to manufacture CFCs because, in theory, the initiation process where the two chlorine atoms split only needs to happen once, and afterwards the cycle can keep repeating without anymore energy added to the system. Since the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987, CFCs have been, for the most part, phased out of our appliances and lifestyles (LeCouteur and Burreson). After the discovery of CFCs’ dramatic effect on the environment, a number of compounds have been introduced, though CFCs’ cheap manufacturing process has made it extremely difficult to come up with another class of compounds which are not only better for the environment, but also as profitable to produce.

One of the most well known class of compounds developed to replace CFCs are HFCs, also known as hydrofluorocarbons. HFCs were originally labeled as non threatening to the environment because they have more hydrogen atoms than CFCs, allowing most of them to break down before reaching the stratospheric ozone layer. Additionally, HFCs do not contain chlorine atoms, so even if some make it to the stratospheric ozone layer, they do not cause the same amount of harm (Empa, 2012). In an article published in Science Daily, Empa writes that by implementing the Montreal Protocol, the equivalent of 10 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide gas was prevented from getting released into the atmosphere (Empa). On the other hand, it can also be argued that HFCs are causing just as many problems as they were intended to solve. While HFCs are friendlier to the ozone layer, they are also harmful greenhouse gasses. For instance, HFCs are 12,000 times more powerful in causing climate change than carbon dioxide (Magill, 2015). Because of that, many scientists are beginning to fear that the positive effect that the Montreal Protocol had on the environment will very soon be undone with the effects of HFCs and the Obama Administration Climate Change Plan is banning them in favor of “more-climate friendly gas” (Magill).

Moving forward, how do we find the most climate-friendly option? While HFCs have tremendous greenhouse gas effects, many scientists worry that alternatives to HFCs might be less efficient and enlarge our carbon footprint by increasing the amount of electricity needed to cool a room. While HFCs ended up not being as harmful to the ozone layer as CFCs were, they still were tremendously bad for the environment in terms of their greenhouse gas effects. By solving one problem, we created another, adding on to what seems to be a never ending cycle of scientists trying to fix previous scientists’ problems, but in reality just creating another one. How do we break this cycle? Are we really ever advancing or just simply creating a whole new set of problems?
 
 
Works Cited

Empa. (2012, February 24). CFC substitutes: Good for the ozone layer, bad for climate?.
ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 25, 2016 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120224110737.htm
 
Magill, B. (2015, July 7). EPA Bans a Gas That Once Helped Save the Ozone Layer.
Retrieved February 25, 2016, from http://www.climatecentral.org/news/epa-bans-greenhouse-gas-19197
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  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • HOW TO SUBMIT
  • Past Publications
    • 2019 Publication >
      • Scientific Research
      • Mathematical Exploration
      • Scientific Exploration
      • Computer Science
    • 2018 Publication >
      • Artistic Creations
      • Historical and Current Explanations
      • Mathematic and Scientific Exploration
      • Scientific Research
    • 2017 Publication >
      • Artistic Creations
      • Historical and Current Explanations
      • Mathematic and Scientific Exploration
      • Reactions and Responses
      • Scientific Research
    • 2016 Publication >
      • Historical and Current Explanations
      • Mathematic and Scientific Explorations
      • Scientific Research
      • Reactions and Responses
      • Artistic Creations
    • 2015 Publication >
      • Historical and Current Explanations >
        • Bell Curves
        • Birds Vs. Turbines
        • Energy in the Obama Era
        • The Future of Neuroscience
        • Gender Gap in Math
        • GMOs--Yes or No?
        • The History of Minecraft: How a Swedish Indie Game Came to Dominate the World
        • The Effect of Prozac on the Brain
        • Philae Lander's Discovery of Organic Molecules
        • Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Turbines
        • Your Own Worst Enemy: An Overview of Lupus
        • The Methylhex Ban
        • The Effect of Lyme Disease on the Immune system
        • Infectious Mononucleosis
        • Replacing CFCs
        • The Switch
      • Mathematic and Scientific Explorations >
        • The 43rd Figure
        • The Clock
        • The Collatz Conjecture
        • Constructing a Soccer Ball
        • Determining how Ballparks Affect Batter's Ability to Create Hits
        • The Rotating Conundrum
        • Pythagorean Puzzle
        • Mathematic and Scientific Explorations
        • Kinetics Lab
        • Math in the Restaurant Business
        • Math as a Vessel for Social Change
        • Sustainability of Bottled Vs. Tap Water
        • Thoughts on the Lottery
        • Understanding Player Efficiency Rating
      • Scientific Research >
        • Communicating With Computers
        • The Mystery of Asthma
        • The Nanoscopic War Against Cancer
        • Phytochemistry
        • Solving the energy crisis with Intermediate Band Solar Cells
        • A Pain That Never Ends
        • Rapamycin Resistance
        • Ampacity of a Single Core Horizontal Cable
        • Morphological Properties of Texting Acronym Formation
        • cGAS and STING Expression
      • Reactions and Responses >
        • Can Humans Survive the Climate Crisis?
        • My Experience as a Teacher's Assistant
        • Ted Talk Responses
        • Teens For Food Justice
      • Artistic Creations >
        • Chandelier
        • Deltoidal Hexacontrahedon
        • Dodecahedron Card Trick
        • Eye of the Triangle
        • Free Radric Delantic Davis
        • The Grid
        • What Does A Randomly Composed Song Sound Like?
        • Science Wing Mural
    • 2014 Publication >
      • Cover Photo
      • Artistic Creations >
        • Art Using the Fibonacci Sequence
        • Computer Generated Architecture and Designs
        • Mathematical Landscape
        • Math Art
        • Math in Music
      • Historical and Current Explanations >
        • Algae Bio-Fuel
        • An Energy Alternative
        • Clean Energy In Transportation
        • Calorie Restriction
        • Creating Energy in the Modern World
        • Dietary Intervention Impact on Gut Microbial Gene Richness
        • Earthly Applications for NASA Technology
        • Explaining Relative Motion
        • Exploring Artificial Inteligence
        • Gamma Function
        • How Leaves Work
        • Hydrogen Fuel Cells
        • Music and Brain Development
        • Programming Calculators
        • The Science of Microsatellites
        • Sci-Fi Taser
        • Sloane's Gap
        • Sustainable Energy: Why Some Ideas Shine Brighter than Others
        • Understanding The Galvanic Cell
        • The Virus: Our Unforeseen Philosopher's Stone
        • What Are Fuel Cells and How Do They Work?
      • Mathematic and Scientific Explorations >
        • Astrocytes Expressing ALS-Linked Mutated SOD1 Release Factors Selectively Toxic to Motor Neurons
        • Big Bang
        • Dictyostelium Discoideum
        • The Future of Solar Cell Technology
        • And Many More...
      • Reactions and Responses >
        • Alternative Energy Sources, New but Unused
        • An Insight Into the Curious World of Ethnobotany
        • Challenging What We Think We Know
        • The Current State of American Education
        • Discovering New Numbers
        • Interview With an Architect
        • Life of Pi Response
        • Mathematical Art Video Commentary
        • Missing from Science Class
        • The Museum of Math
        • The Inside Scoop on a Real Mathematician
    • 2013 Publication