Are ozone, hydroperoxide, and hydroxide safe to use?
It depends upon which agent. Ozone, once formed, has a life of about 20-minutes. When it starts decaying, O¹ (atomic oxygen) is temporarily formed. It is atomic oxygen that attaches to other compounds, altering their chemical composition. With a longer life, ozone has sufficient time to mix with the breathable air stream before converting to atomic oxygen. When this conversion takes place, it becomes a danger to the lungs by aging the tissue. This is called “breathing in oxidants.” On the other hand, Hydroperoxide and hydroxides change very rapidly in the presence of organic material. The life of these compounds is much shorter than ozone, preventing much of these agents from mixing into the breathable airspace. Further hydroxide converts rapidly to water when decaying organic material by stealing hydrogen from the organic molecules. In this case, hazardous oxidants are not being produced.
