For ozone still explodes. Some investigators believe that the explosions are initiated by traces of organic peroxides in the stuff, which come from traces, say, of oil in the oxygen it was made of. Other workers are convinced that it’s just the nature of ozone to explode, and still others are sure that original sin has something to do with it.
- Ignition! by John D. Clark
You know it's going to be a bad day when you smell bleach while wearing a multi-gas P100 filtered respirator.
The thing about a high pressure Ozone leak is that by the time you smell it is already too late. The monitoring systems aren't monitoring and the failsafes have failed.
O3 is a tiny molecule, relatively speaking. It is of course a strong oxidizer - that's one of the reasons we keep it around. It will begin to eat away at anything not already in its highest oxidation state. So it must be stored in liquid form at cryogenic temperatures in inert indium-lined silicide ceramic tanks to prevent oxidation and explosive decomposition.
No matter how big your respirator's filter is or whether its datasheet says its resistant to ozone vapors: when there is enough ozone in the air the filter will break down in moments.
Venting the compartment to the vacuum of space isn't an option either. The drop in pressure greatly exacerbates the leak and aerosolizes the ozone droplets - increasing the surface area. This can trigger a runaway effect where the ozone turns the entire module into one giant pipe bomb.
The whole crew needs to don sealed atmosphere-supplying respirators. Or even full extra-vehicular activity suits. Life support needs to be turned off and inert gases pumped in. In fact all electrical systems must be disabled. Only hermetically sealed solid-state light sources and simple non-metallic tools can be used in the affected areas.
Sam curses the idiots that chose an ozone propulsion system for this rig as she makes her way down the icy corridor towards the angry hissing lurking somewhere in the dark.
does it still count as a short story when it is 90% just a dramatic explanation of the real-world chemical properties of a single molecule?
inspired by breathing in ozone fumes all day yesterday after i purged a room of mildew stank, i just could not get this image out of my head, and i kept imagining this line about how useless respirators are against simple gas molecules
research determined that there are filters which are rated for ozone, but even the best ones only work up to around 10ppm concentration
if you want to learn more about ozone, here are some informative (and fun!) links: