8.Nobel laureate W. Sherwood Rowland referred to the ozone layer as the Achilles heel of our atmosphere. Explain the metaphor.

Find the explanation below.

Explanation:

The metaphor, Achilles heel, was drawn from a Greek hero named Achilles who was very valiant, powerful, and courageous, but whose only weak point was his Achilles heel. A metaphor is a literary device that presents words as having deeper meanings, instead of just their literal meaning.

When Nobel laureate W. Sherwood Rowland referred to the ozone layer as the Achilles heel of our atmosphere, he was referring to the vulnerability the ozone layer has to be depleted and easily thinned due to changes in the composition of the atmosphere, in spite of its protective strength. Ozone is made up of three atoms of oxygen, and it works closely with the diatomic oxygen to absorb ultraviolet rays from the sun. Without its protective function, plants and animals would easily die-off on planet earth. Its Achilles heel is however in the fact that it is easily depleted making the earth more exposed to the sun.