Acid Rain (1894 words) Essay Example For Students

Acid Rain (1894 words) Essay Acid RainMy first question is , What is Acid Rain? You hear about it all the timein the news and it is very important to the earths ecosystem. In simpleterms, acid rain is rain that is more acidic than normal. All objects in naturehave a certain level of acicicity but acid rain has too much acid in it. Acidrain is a complicated problem, caused by air pollution. Acid rains spread anddamage involves weather, chemistry, soil, and the life cycles of plants andanimals on the land and from acid rain in the water. Acidity is measured using apH scale, with the number 7 being neutral. Therefore, a body with a pH value ofless than 7 is acidic. On the other hand, a value greater than 7 is basic. ThepH of 5.6 has been used as the baseline in identifying acid rain, although thisvalue is controversial, therefore, acid ran is any rainfall that has an aciditylevel above what is expected in non-polluted rainfall. Any precipitation thathas a pH value of less than 5.6 is considered to be acid precipita tion. Readingsof pH 2.4as acidic as vinegarwere recorded during storms in New England. During one particularly acid summer storm, rain falling on a lime-greenautomobile leached away the yellow in the green paint, leaving blue raindropshaped spots on the car. Scientists have found that pollution in the air fromthe burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of acid rain. The major chemicalsin air that help to create acid rain are sulfur dioxide, known as (SO2), andnitrogen oxides, known as (NOx). Acid rain is formed high in the clouds wheresulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides react with water, oxygen, and oxidants. Thislethal mixture creates a mild solution of sulfuric acid and nitric acid. Sunlight often increases the speed at which the reaction occur. Rainwater, snow,fog, and other forms of precipitation containing these new solutions of sulfuricand nitric acids fall to earth as acid rain. Acid rain does not make up all ofthe acidity that falls back to earth from pollutants. Only half of the acidityin the air falls back to earth through dry deposition as gases and dryparticles. The wind blows and then these acidic grains are blown onto buildings,cars, homes, and trees. In some cases, these particles can eat away the objectswhich they land on. Dry deposited gases are sometimes washed from trees andother surfaces by rainstorms. When this occurs, the runoff water adds the newacids to the acid rain, making a more acidic combination than the falling rainby itself. One of the main causes of acid rain is the sulfur dioxide. Sulfurdioxide is one of the main ingredients which make up the deadly combination thatforms acid rain. Some of the natural sources that emit this gas are rottingvegetation, volcanoes, plankton, rotting animals and sea spray. However, theburning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, do not help the situation and arelargely to blame for approximately half of the emissions of this gas in theworld. Water moves through living plants, animal, streams, lakes, and oceans inthe hydrologic cycle. In that cycle, water evaporates from the land and sea intothe atmosphere. Water in the atmosphere then condenses to form clouds. Cloudsrelease the water back to the earth as rain, snow, or fog. When water dropletsform and fall to the earth, they pick up particles and chemicals that float inthe air. Even clean, unpolluted air has some particles such as dust or pollen. Clean air also contains naturally occurring gases such as carbon dioxide. Theinteraction between the water droplets and the carbon dioxide in the atmospheregives rain a pH of 5.6, making even clean rain slightly acidic. Other naturalsources of acids and bases in the atmosphere may lower or raise the pH ofunpolluted rain. However, when rain contains pollutants, especially sulfurdioxide and nitrogen oxides, the rain water can become very acidic. This problemis a problem of natures balance being tampered with. If not polluted, normalprecipitation would react with chemicals that are derived from bedrock in theair, soil, lakes, and streams and this rain would be neutralized. Since theprecipitation is highly acidic, these natural buffering chemicals will bedestroyed. When this occurs, the natural buffering effect does not occur, andnature wont keep its balance Acid rain has been a big problem for a longtime. Research on acid rain is just starting to make progress. In the past,little was kn own about the causes and effects of acid rain. Lakes, rivers,oceans, and other aquatic ecosystems are largely affected by acid rain. Thereason why acid rain has such a large affect on aquatic ecosystems is becausethere as so many routes in which acidic chemicals can enter the water. Chemicalsubstances enter the water in different ways. Some of the ways acidic chemicalsenter waterways are as dry particles. These chemicals can also get into thewater in forms such as rain, hail, dew, fog and snow. Another way that acidsenter the lakes is called spring acid shock. An example of spring acid shock iswhen snow melts in the spring rapidly as a result of a sudden temperaturechange. The acids in the snow are then put into the soil. The melted snow inreturn runs off to smaller water sources, and gradually make their way into thelarger water ecosystems. This causes a sudden drastic change in the pH level. Lord of the Flies: Chapter 9-12 Notes EssayAcid rain also affects architecture. Architecture is affected by both dryprecipitation and wet precipitation. When these particles land on building theyeat into the concrete eventually destroying them. This is a potential dangerbecause the infrastructure of the buildings can be destroyed, thus hurtingpeople occupying the building Acid Rain also has a direct affect on you and I. The SO2 and NO2 emissions give rise to respiratory problems such as asthma, drycoughs, headaches, eye, nose and throat irritations. The indirect affect of acidrain are on the food that we eat. Acid rain is absorbed in fruits, and in thetissues of animals. Although these toxic metals do not directly affect theanimals, they have serious affects on humans when they are being consumed. Acidrain is a huge problem which affects every person living in the world in somesort of way. Acid rain is a problem that can be reduced but not stoppedcompletely due to the needs of our modern society. Some ways that we could helpto reduce acid rain is by recycling, carpooling, and reducing. Acid rain is aproblem that can be controlled but it is up to the people of earth to controlthe problem. Bibliography1. Heij, G.J. and J.W. Erisman (Editors). Acid Rain Research: Do we haveenough answers? New York: Elsevier, 1995. 2.Comptons New Media Encyclopedia 19963. White, James C. (Editor). Acid Rain: The Relationship between Sources andReceptors. New York: Elsevier, 1988. 4.FAQ on Acid Rain(http://ns.doe.ca/aeb/ssd/acid/acidFAQ.html)