Acid Rain From The Scottish Chemist Essay

Acid rain is rain that has become acidic, because of air pollutants in the atmosphere. Rain has a normal pH level of around 5-5.5 which is only slightly acidic. 7 on the pH scale is the neutral and anything below that is considered acidic. Acid rain has a pH level around 4 which is 10 times more acidic. Acid rain can fall in many different ways and has many effects on the environment.

Substances are released which run off into water bodies and toxic to water life. Acidic materials deposited directly from the atmosphere also have the effect of altering the acid balance in water bodies and this too has an effect on the life they support. Acidic deposition onto sensitive buildings causes decay of stonework and other materials.(Environment Agency: Acid Rain, page 1)

Acidity of an ecosystem, measured in pH, is a crucial factor to the survival of a species in an ecosystem. Altering it can have result in dramatically negative effects, in spite of the fact that pH of an ecosystem has been dramatically changed over a relatively short period of time due to various human activities. For example, acid rain is a major environmental problem that is caused by human-made pollution. When fossil fuels are burnt to get energy, pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides get mixed into the rainwater and eventually are evaporated into the atmosphere. These gases enter the atmosphere, and mix with water in the water cycle to form an acidic mixture of water and gases. This water falls in the form of acid rain, which

Acid deposition can come in two forms, dry and wet. Wet deposition is when the acid falls in the form of fog, snow or other precipitation. Dry deposition is found in dry areas where it does not precipitate often. In these areas the chemicals fall as dust or smoke, and stick to whatever they land on. Acid deposition can be result to both natural and manmade sources. Natural sources of acid deposition include electrical storms, volcanoes, and decaying vegetation. Man-made emissions, from power plants that burn fossil fuels are released into the atmosphere as nitrogen oxides (NOx), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). These elements react to oxygen, water, and other gasses in the atmosphere in order to form acidic compounds. These acidic compounds then fall in either a wet or dry form. Acid rain can have a potentially devastating effects on the ecosystem it falls on. When acid rain hits the ground, it faces a natural buffer in the soil often in the form of limestone and calcium carbonate. The water will then travel into either a stream or a lake, where it affects fish. If the fallen rain has a pH at or below 5 undesirable species invade, often in the form of mosses or plankton. The top layer of water becomes too acidic for the inhabitants reproductive cycle to work properly, slowly killing off the

A quite common characteristic of water is water hardness, a component that is applicable to various uses. Water hardness is characterized as water with dissolved divalent cations, primarily highly dissolvable Ca2+ and Mg2+ions. While the concept of water hardness is an age-old term, dating back to Hippocrates, our

Acid rain is any form of precipitation comprising of acidic components such as sulphuric acid, carbonic acid or nitric acid that falls from the atmosphere as rain, snow, fog, fail or dust. When sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere, they are transported by wind and air currents. Hence, the two substances react with water, oxygen and other chemicals to for sulphuric, carbonic and nitric acids. The intense extraction of copper in Queensland is one of the causes of acid rain because the large machines that drill into the ground contributes to the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in large masses. The roasting, smelting and converting of copper is another factor that contributes to acid rain. The ores are roasted to remove

Acid precipitation is a wide term that incorporates any type of precipitation with acidic parts, for example, sulfuric or nitric acid that tumble to the ground from the climate in wet or dry structures. This can incorporate into rain, snow, haze, hail or even clean that is acidic. Acid rain as numerous natural impacts, yet none is more prominent than its effect on lakes, streams, wetlands, and other amphibian situations.

Acid rain is rain that has been made acidic by certain pollutants in the air and has low pH levels that can harm the environment. It is a type of acid deposition that can appear in many forms such as, wet deposition, which can be rain, sleet snow or fog that is more acidic than normal, and dry deposition, where gases and dust particles become acidic. (Epa.gov) Acid deposition in wet and dry forms, falls on buildings, cars and trees and makes lakes acidic, which then leads to the danger of plant and animal life. Dry acid deposition though, can be inhaled by humans, which can then cause health problems. (Epa.gov)

If acid rain comes in contact with granite, then it will be affected the least because granite is the most dense substance. The hypothesis was supported because granite changed the pH of the vinegar the least. The initial pH of the vinegar in all the trials was 2 moL. After the experiment was conducted, the average pH of the vinegar with granite was 2.67, while red sandstone had an average pH of 3 moL, and limestone, 3.33 moL. The control does validate my experiment, showing that the building materials affect the pH of vinegar and which ones affected it the most. The control was not affected by the vinegar considering the fact that there was no material in the vinegar that would make it

     “North Americans have been smelting ore and burning fossil fuels for generations. In the past, the gases went up ordinary chimneys or small smoke stacks, to descend upon near by areas and pollute them,” states author, Robert Collins. Almost everyone knows what acid rain is and has a vague idea of the consequences that exist as a cause of it. Most people however do not realize the severity of acid rain. The essay “Acid Rain: Scourge from the Skies” by Robert Collins was very effective in showing the true severity of acid rain. By using excellent developmental devices, Robert Collins was able to write an effective essay that is appealing to today’s society, as well as

Acid rain can hurt the plants in the forest environment because when the plant start drinking the acid rain it makes the plants natural defense weaker. In doing that they are easier to die by diseases because they do not have much natural defense to protect them. It can also cause fires to the environment. Acid rain is known to take the nutrients out of soil killing trees, plants, and crops. With the low nutrients it does damage to the red spruce tree

Acid rain has a large concentration of hydrogen ions mainly coming from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. It could kill living organisms, damage buildings, and monuments.

Acid rains as a phenomenon has been identified during the 19th century in Europe, and was attributed the smokes rising from chimneys factories coinciding with the overtime increase of rain acidification especially in Scandinavia. There is a growing interest in acid rains and its destructive effects in the light of the development of global industry especially in the industrialized countries, which consume huge quantities of fuel and release increasing quantities of gases such as sulphur dioxide, hydrogen, and nitrogen oxides which produce sulfur and nitrogenouns acids upon the interactions with oxygen and water vapour. Acids produced remain in the form of fine mist until dissolved in rainfall once occurs and then precipitates as

Santiago i Outline I. Introduction A. Acid rain is rain that transforms into acid by the pollution in the atmosphere that harms the environment, and other things such as forests, and lakes B. One of the main causes is industrial burning of coal, fossil fuels, waste gases that have sulfur, and nitrogen oxides, that mix with the atmosphere water to make acids II. Formation and Chemistry A. Gases are mainly produced by factories, and the smoke they emit which then turns into acid rain, hail or snow which is called wet deposition. Acids reaction with calcium carbonate in marble and erodes it. B. Dry deposition: dusk or smoke falling to the ground, and sticking to the ground, buildings, homes, trees, and cars C. PH acid scale, (SO2), and (NO2)

Acid Rain and acid deposition are pollutants that are very difficult to escape. It can reach every part of the US and many parts of the world. According to the EPA, Acid Rain is a term that tends to be broad. It’s when precipitation contains Acidic particles such as Sulfuric, or Nitric acid. These acidic particles can get carried all over by different means such as rain, wind, and even fog. Once it hits the ground it is then washed away into water systems. Acid Rain is something that many organizations are trying to have some control over due to the health issues it can cause in people and wildlife.