The ozone layer is like Earth's very own pair of sunglasses! It filters out harmful ultraviolet radiation which, if let loose, would turn Earth into a no-fun zone for most life forms. 😎

• Location: Up in the stratosphere, between 10-50 km above the Earth.
• Main Job: Filters harmful ultraviolet radiation (that mean, nasty stuff that can harm us).

• Oxygen (from the top of the troposphere) + Sunlight = Ozone. It's a sunny recipe for protection!
• The process goes something like this:
  • Ultraviolet radiation (UV - those are the short-wave ones) breaks oxygen molecules (O₂) into two separate oxygen atoms (O).
  • These lone oxygen atoms (O) then pair up with oxygen molecules (O₂) to form... you guessed it: ozone (O₃)!

Apart from being Earth's UV bouncer, ozone also keeps us warm. How? It absorbs some of the outgoing long-wave radiation. This makes it a greenhouse gas too. So, it's like our planet's natural heater.