The Mystery of the Rising Molecules

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Gather ’round, curious minds, for I shall tell you a tale of invisible travelers that defied gravity’s pull.

Long ago, scientists discovered strange substances called chlorofluorocarbons—CFCs, as they came to be known. These molecules were hefty creatures, several times heavier than the air itself. By all logic, they should have remained earthbound, like stones too heavy to float.

Yet something curious happened. When researchers sent their measuring instruments high into the sky—aboard balloons dancing in the wind, aircraft soaring through clouds, and satellites watching from above—they found these heavy molecules had somehow journeyed to the stratosphere, that rarified realm where our protective ozone shield dwells.

How did these weighty wanderers complete such an impossible journey? The answer, as Nobel laureate F. Sherwood Rowland discovered, lies in the restless nature of our atmosphere.

You see, our atmosphere is no peaceful pond with layers settling by weight. It is a wild, churning ocean of gases, where powerful winds sweep molecules upward far faster than they can sink back down. These winds care nothing for a molecule’s weight—they carry all travelers upward in their embrace.

And these CFC molecules possess a special trait for such journeys. Being insoluble in water and reluctant to react with other substances in the lower atmosphere, they remain intact during their ascent. Like sturdy travelers resistant to the perils of the road, they survive the journey that would break down more fragile molecules.

And so, despite their heaviness, these persistent wanderers are mixed and lifted by atmospheric currents, rising beyond ten kilometers into the sky, reaching heights that defy their nature—a reminder that in nature’s grand design, the expected path is not always the one that’s taken.