Acid Rain : The Cause And Effects Of Acid Rain

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

Other experiments that could be conducted with acid rain could be the growth rate of a plant that was germinated with pure water, and then once it has germinated, from that point on, water it with acid rain. Additional experiments could pertain to aquatic life and how acid rain affects the animals that live in these bodies of water. Another experiment that could be tested would be the amount of acid rain given to a certain type of seed and how fast those seeds germinate. Overall, acid rain is not good for the environment and should be avoided if

Acid rain has also affected the ground too. The acidic liquid that has made it to ground

Acid deposition effects water systems because it lowers the pH in the water, creating adverse effects. More Acidic water will also more readily absorb aluminum leached from soil runoff. The combination of aluminum and acidic water is very harmful to many species. When biomagnification occurs many species will die off resulting in less biodiversity in the water system. Dead or dying trees is a common sight with acid deposition in effect. Acid rain leaches aluminum from the soil, doing so sucking the nutrients from the tree and causing death. At high elevation acidic fog, or clouds can strip the nutrients from the trees foliage’ causing them to lose leaves and die. The trees are also less able to absorb sunlight, and with that will not be able to achieve photosynthesis. As well as rural areas, urban areas also get affected. If buildings are made out of marble or limestone, the stone will begin to peel and chip away over time. This is possible because when the main crust chips away underneath is something composed of gypsum. A mineral that forms from the reaction between calcite, water, and sulfuric acid. This mineral can be slowly eaten away and destroyed by acid

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)

It is caused by pollutants in the water, when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides combine in the atmosphere. Sulfur dioxide is formed by coal burning power plants and nitrogen oxides are made by car exhaust (1).The precipitation of acid rain occurs in the sulfur cycle, nitrogen cycle, and the carbon cycle. Acid rain can be harmful to plants, animals, can pollutes rivers and streams, and destroys statues and buildings. Acid rain can suck the nutrients out of plants, or release a toxic substance into plant roots. The problem being investigated in this experiment how much acid rain affected building materials.

Through the advancement of technology, the issue of the air surrounding the earth might have been one of the most often matters to be brought up and discussed among scientists and engineers. Acid rain is one of the more serious environmental problems and it is closely related to the air pollution. Nowadays, it has affected large part of US, Europe and Canada. People start to be concerned about acid rain since it is getting worse in the passed years. The effect of the acid rain most often leads to another bad effect. For example, the acid rain will cause the lake and streams to be acidic. Thus, it will also affect the ecosystem inside the water.

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 also soaks into ground and dissolves nutrients from the soil. When the plants call upon these nutrients to grow, the absence kills the vegetation. Over a short period of time plants begin

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

Acid rain reduces nutrients from soil making the three more vulnerable to environmental factors. Acid rain deteriorates the leaves, limiting nutrients available to them, poisoning them with toxic substances slowly released from the soil.