Taking a Look at Acid Rain

When President Richard Nixon was in charge, the whole environmental policies started to properly rise in American. Back in 1989 when President Bush issued what would the following year be called the Clean Air of 1990, the United States was taking notice in world climate. Over the years, the country as a whole has strayed from putting emphasis on these issues. Graphs show us that we did better back in 1990 than we did in 2004. Compared to many other countries such as Germany, Japan, Canada, UK, Italy, France, and Australia, the United States releases an incredible amount of more greenhouse emissions. President Bush wanted to take care of three major issues of the time that would benefit every American, “The President proposed legislation designed to curb three major threats to the nation 's environment and to the health of millions of Americans: acid rain, urban air pollution, and toxic air emissions.” (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2015). Acid rain is something that harms plants, marine life, and humans, it has high levels of nitrate and sulfur dioxide. Too much of acid rain can begin to kill species because of its toxic chemicals. Professor Pecorella 2015 on a class lecture of public opinion said that,“public opinion reacts to action”,since this is true, then this would validate what EPA does because the majority of people do believe in global warming. The Environmental Protection Agency would help ensure a safer future for America, one that would allow

     “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 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.

Another form of industrial waste that contributes to water pollution is acid rain. Acid rain is a product of industries burning coal. The burning of coal produces sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide, and when these chemicals combine with the earth’s atmosphere it forms acid rain The Northeastern part of the United States has the worst acid rain levels in the world. More specific, the states with the highest concentration are Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and some boarding parts of Canada and New England area. The falling acid rain can destroy plants and animals in several different ways. The acidification of a lake, river, or stream because of the high acidic levels in the water kills algae. Since algae are the main source of food, for many species of fish, they will also suffer from the high acid levels.

Acid rain affects thousands of people worldwide and is produced by factories and car fumes. It is the product of humanity and should not happen if we were careful of our carbon emissions. This phenomenon has contributed to many ruined water sources around the world. If acid rain was never a problem then places like Canada would have more forests and trees in Ontario. Also not as much coral would be dying in the ocean. Acid rain is a serious problem that needs to be addressed with caution and must be effectively dealt with before it is too

To conclude, acid rain includes many elements that make it well known worldwide today and also puts my mind into a new perspective of the effects that are happening in front of my own eyes that I am not noticing. Not to mention, that if I were to pursue the career of becoming an environmental engineer, I would be able to help protect the environment from acidity and become more aware of the solutions to this problem when the environment cannot neutralize the substances on its

Acid rain is a type of rain mixed with acid that affects crops, buildings, and statues. Acid rain is made when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide combine with each other in the air. There are many different causes of acid rain; including the burning of fossil fuels, emittance from vehicles, volcanic eruptions, and decaying vegetation. Acid rain can be measured by using the pH scale. The pH scale is used to measure different levels of acidity and alkaline. The pH scale has a numerical scale of zero to fourteen, with seven being neutral. The pH of rain in Illinois is typically 4.7-4.8, making it acidic. In regards to the US, acid rain is most commonly found in the northeastern region. Acid rain can decay and erode buildings and statues, causing

pH is the concentration of hydrogen ions in a substance. A solution with a pH of 7.0 is considered “neutral” because the concentration of hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions are equal. A liquid that has a pH above 7 is considered basic or alkaline (a base) , and a liquid that has a pH of below 7.0 is considered acidic (an acid). When a base is dissolved in water, it lose hydrogen ions to the water, resulting in more hydroxide than hydrogen ions, making an alkaline solution. When an acid is dissolved in water, it receives hydrogen ions from the water, resulting in more hydrogen ions in the acid, making an acidic solution.

Many of the acidic deposits that fall from earth from to the atmosphere can cause the pH of the water to change, making them have a higher acidity than desired. This process was named acid rain from the Scottish chemist, Robert Angus Smith who discovered this in the 19th century (Reed, 2014). Acid rain is commonly known as air pollution today causing many detrimental effects on the environment (Funk & Wagnalls, 2016). Based on the pH of the concentrated rainfall, acid precipitation begins to take place. Acid precipitation begins in the atmosphere since this is where most of the pollutants are being combined to create many of the acids that aid in the acidity of acid rain. Most of the pollutants come from the oxides, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrous oxides (N2O), which later on aid in the acidity of the rain fall (Funk & Wagnalls, 2016). By fully understanding the history and formation of acid rain through inorganic chemistry, scientists can extrapolate the data to help find solutions to decrease the pH concentrations of acid rain.

Bunker fuel is a type of liquid fuel, which is fractionally distilled from crude oil (Geek, 2015). According to the oil industry’s material data sheets, the oil is a complex blend of hydrocarbons derived from various refinery streams, usually residue from the oil refinery processes (Wagstaffe, 2015). In comparison with petroleum products, bunker fuel causes high pollution and is extremely rough. When bunker fuel is burned, it releases sulphur and nitrogen into the atmosphere. These oxides then combine with water in the atmosphere and form acids, which is classified as ‘acid rain’. Generally, acid rain has not been a problem in Australia, but issues have been raised with acidic rain in industrial areas (high levels of sulphur oxides and nitrogen).

According to the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (2014), pure rain has a pH of about 5.6 while most acid deposition boasts a lower pH of 4.2 to 4.7. If scientists notice a significant

Humans are more responsible for causing acid rain than natural sources. Areas with large populations and heavy traffic are susceptible to acid rain, because car emissions contain high amounts of nitrogen oxides (Lerner and Lerner 2). Industrial pollutants are the leading cause of acid rain; they may raise the acidity of a region’s precipitation more than tenfold (Gorman 13). Power plants burn fossil fuels, like coal and oil, for energy. Sulfur dioxide is a by-product of fossil fuels and is emitted into the air after being burned. Nitrogen oxides are less abundant but are still by-products of the same fossil fuels (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). Both of these gasses raise the acidity in precipitation greatly.

The formation of acid rain occurs when particular gasses are dissolved into rainwater which in turn creates acids. When precipitation is caught up in clouds, potent gasses are capable of polluting the rainwater causing it to become extremely acidic. One of the most common acids that is absorbed into the rain is sulfur trioxide. This acid is produced from the vast amount of human activity on our earth. Nitrogen and sulfur are two main airborne elements that cause this dangerous precipitation of acids. The scientific study of acid rain has brought researchers to believe that sixty-five to seventy percent of acid rain formation is caused by sulfur dioxide. Various kinds of nitrogen oxides cause the remaining percentage of acid rain occurrences. With the amount of emissions released into the ozone, acid rain is becoming more and more of a problem for our environment. When these pollutions react with rain, they form a dangerous product that can damage forests and soil. This in turn makes the soil infertile, ruining our land. Power plants and other large industries are releasing a harmful amount of SO2 in the atmosphere. These excess oxides that are interacting with rain have to be cut down in order to start reducing the amount of acid rain fall annually. When this acidic solution falls on areas with sea life and vegetation, it is found to kill fish, larva, insects, plants, and many other organism. When these forms of life are exposed to this low of a PH, it

The effects of acid rain greatly affect the environment. Some lakes become so acidic fish cannot survive in them. The degradation of minerals present in soil produces metal ions. These are subsequently washed away, causing the release of toxic substances, such as Al3+, into the water supply. This also causes the loss of important minerals, such as Ca2+, from the soil, killing trees and crops. Long-term effects from global warming include landslides and increased seismic and volcanic activities, due to land no longer being depressed by the weight of ice. Tsunamis could also be generated, landslides caused by warmer ocean water thawing ocean-floor permafrost or releasing gas hydrates. Some world regions already show an increase in landslides, such as the French Alps.

Human activities or actions are fond as a main cause of acid rain. Since few decades, human efforts have made many chemicals which have been continuously released to atmosphere where they mix together and make different compounds where power plants releases sulfur-dioxide and few amount of nitrogen-oxides then they burn fossil fuels such as coal, for producing electricity. Moreover, exhaust vehicles also releases the same type of gases into the air.