‘Our present knowledge of the volumetric relations of ozone may be expressed in the following manner:
‘1. “Ordinary oxygen in changing into ozone under the action of electricity shows a diminution in volume.” This was discovered by Andrews and Tait.
‘2. “In acting on ozonised oxygen with potassium iodide and other substances capable of being oxidised, we destroy the ozone, but the volume of the gas remains unchanged.” For the researches of Andrews, Soret, v. Babo, and others showed that the proportion of ozonised oxygen absorbed by the potassium iodide is equal to the original contraction of volume of the oxygen—that is, in the absorption of the ozone the volume of the gas remains unchanged. From this it might be imagined that ozone, so to say, does not occupy any space—is indefinitely dense.
‘3. “By the action of heat ozonised oxygen increases in volume, and is transformed into ordinary oxygen. This increase in volume corresponds with the quantity of ozonised oxygen which is given up to the potassium iodide in its decomposition” (the same observers).
‘4. These unquestionable experimental results lead to the conclusion that ozone is denser than oxygen, and that in its oxidising action it gives off that portion of its substance to which is due its extra density distinguishing it from ordinary oxygen.’
If we imagine (says Weltzien) that n volumes of ozone consist of n volumes of oxygen combined with m volumes of the same substance, and that ozone in oxidising gives up m volumes of oxygen and leaves n volumes of ordinary oxygen gas, then all the above facts can be explained; otherwise it must be supposed that ozone is infinitely dense. ‘In order to determine the density of ozone’ (we again cite Soret) ‘recourse cannot be had to the direct determination of the weight of a given volume of the gas, because ozone cannot be obtained in a pure state. It is always mixed with a very large quantity of oxygen. It was necessary, therefore, to have recourse to such substances as would absorb ozone without absorbing oxygen and without destroying the ozone. Then the density might be deduced from the decrease of volume produced in the gas by the action of this solvent in comparison with the quantity of oxygen given up to potassium iodide. Advantage must also be taken of the determination of the increase of volume produced by the action of heat on ozone, if the volume occupied by the ozone before heating be known.’ Soret found two such substances, turpentine and oil of cinnamon. ‘Ozone disappears in the presence of turpentine. This is accompanied by the appearance of a dense vapour, which fills a vessel of small capacity (0·14 litre) to such an extent that it is impenetrable to direct solar-rays. On leaving the vessel at rest, it is observed that the cloud of vapour settles; the clearing is first remarked at the upper portion of the vessel, and the brilliant colours of the rainbow are seen on the edge of a cloud of vapour.’ Oil of cinnamon—that is, the volatile or essential oil of the well-known spice, cinnamon—gives under similar circumstances the same kind of vapours, but they are much less voluminous. On measuring the gaseous volume before and after the action of both volatile oils, a considerable decrease is remarked. On applying all the necessary corrections (for the solubility of oxygen in the oily liquids named above, for the tension of their vapour, for the change of pressure, &c.) and making a series of comparative determinations, Soret obtained the following result: two volumes of ozone capable of being dissolved, when changed to ordinary (by heating a wire to a red-heat by a galvanic current) increase by one volume. Hence it is evident that in the formation of ozone three volumes of oxygen give two volumes of ozone—that is, its density (referred to hydrogen) = 24.
The observations and determinations of Soret showed that ozone is heavier than oxygen, and even than carbonic anhydride (because ozonised oxygen passes through fine orifices more slowly than oxygen and than its mixtures with carbonic anhydride), although lighter than chlorine (it flows more rapidly through such orifices than chlorine), and they indicated that ozone is one and a half times denser than oxygen, which may be expressed by designating a molecule of oxygen by O2 and of ozone by O3, and hence ozone OO2 is comparable with compound substances[9] formed by oxygen, as for instance CO2, SO2, NO2, &c. This explains the chief differences between ozone and oxygen and the cause of the isomerism, and at the same time leads one to expect[10] that ozone, being a gas which is denser than oxygen, would be liquefied much more easily. This was actually shown to be the case in 1880, by Chappuis and Hautefeuille in their researches on the physical properties of ozone. Its boiling point under a pressure of 760 mm. is about -106°, and consequently compressed and refrigerated ozone when rapidly expanded forms drops, i.e. is liquefied. Liquid and compressed[11] ozone is blue. In dissolving in water ozone partly passes into oxygen. It explodes violently when suddenly compressed and heated, changing into ordinary oxygen and evolving, like all explosive substances,[12] that extra heat which distinguishes it from oxygen.
Thus, judging by what has been said above, ozone should he formed in nature not only in the many processes of oxidation which go on, but also by the condensation of atmospheric oxygen. The significance of ozone in nature has often arrested the attention of observers. There is a series of ozonometrical observations which show the different amounts of ozone in the air at different localities, at different times of the year, and under different circumstances. But the observations made in this direction cannot be considered as sufficiently exact, because the methods in use for determining ozone were not quite accurate. It is however indisputable[13] that the amount of ozone in the atmosphere is subject to variation; that the air of dwellings contains no ozone (it disappears in oxidising organic matter); that the air of fields and forests always contains ozone, or substances (peroxide of hydrogen) which act like it (on iodised starch paper &c.)[13 bis]; that the amount of ozone increases after storms; and that miasms, &c., are destroyed by ozonising the atmosphere. It easily oxidises organic substances, and miasms are produced by organic substances and the germs of organisms, all of which are easily changed and oxidised. Indeed, many miasms—for instance, the volatile substance of decomposing organisms—are clearly destroyed or changed not only by ozone, but also by many other powerfully oxidising substances, such as chlorine water, potassium permanganate, and the like.[14] All that is now known respecting the presence of ozone in the air may be summed up in the following words: A small quantity of an oxidising substance, resembling ozone in its reactions, has undoubtedly been observed and determined in the atmosphere, especially in fresh air, for instance after a storm, and it is very likely that this substance contains a mixture of such oxidising substances as ozone, peroxide of hydrogen, and the lower oxides of nitrogen (especially nitrous acid and its ammonia salt) produced from the elements of the atmosphere by oxidation and by the action of electrical discharges.
Thus in ozone we see (1) the capacity of elements (and it must be all the more marked in compounds) of changing in properties without altering in composition; this is termed isomerism;[15] (2) the capacity of certain elements for condensing themselves into molecules of different densities; this forms a special case of isomerism called polymerism; (3) the capacity of oxygen for appearing in a still more active and energetic chemical state than that in which it occurs in ordinary gaseous oxygen; and (4) the formation of unstable equilibria, or chemical states, which are illustrated both by the ease with which ozone acts as an oxidiser and by its capacity for decomposing with explosion.[16]