An example of anthropomorphism in popular science writing:
"…our aircraft only really release chemicals up until about ten to twelve km, whereas these rockets are going all the way to eighty, a hundred kilometres, so putting these chemicals into multiple layers in the atmosphere. One of these layers is a layer of ozone that is crucial [emphasised by speaker] for protecting us from harmful UV radiation. And so, you know, in the past we have tried to address this by controlling industrial sources that are close to the earth where the chemicals have to work a lot harder to get to that layer, but now, with rockets, we can just put them directly into that layer."
Prof. Eloise Marais (Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Air Quality, UCL) was speaking on an episode ('How green is space travel?') of BBC Inside Science.
Read examples of anthropomorphism in science
Note that the term 'ozone layer' is widely used, but does not mean there is a layer of the atmosphere which is comprised purely of ozone (rather, a region {'layer'} of air with higher concentrations of ozone than other 'layers') – which would be an alternative conception. This distinction will be very obvious to the expert, such as a science teacher, but the term can mislead learners.
Read about the nature of alternative conceptions
Read about some examples of science misconceptions
Read about historical scientific conceptions
