Understanding Acidic Precipitation or Acid Rain Essay

Acid rain is precipitation containing harmful amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids. (Environmental Effects) A few acid rain examples are rain, snow, sleet, fog, cloudwater, and dew. “Toxic pollutants in the air or deposited on soils or surface waters, can impact wildlife in a number of ways. Greenhouse gases a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation, such as, carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons. Methane, water vapor, fluorinated gases, ozone, sulfur hexafluoride, Carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide.(OTHER GREENHOUSE

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

Atmospheric deposition is the process, long recognized by scientists, whereby precipitation (rain, snow, fog), particles, aerosols, and gases move from the atmosphere to the earth's surface. Materials reaching the earth in precipitation or as dry deposition originate from a variety of air pollution sources and can be harmful to the environment and public health. Acidic deposition is the most widely acknowledged form of atmospheric deposition, with well-known effects on lakes, streams, and forests. More recently, atmospheric contributions of nutrients have received increasing attention, particularly as a source of excessive nitrogen entering the Chesapeake Bay. In addition, atmospheric deposition may be a significant source of environmental

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

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

The range is between 0 and 14 and shows how basic or acidic the tested water is on a logarithmic scale. The lower the number, the more acidic the water is. A healthy lake is slightly acidic at 6.5 and in levels lower than 4.2, fish will not be able to survive. As pH levels move away from 6.5, more stress could be caused to aquatic life which could raise mortality rates. Changes in pH levels can also be natural or anthropogenic. Natural influences include carbonic materials in the water. When carbonic minerals are in the water, the alkalinity of the water increases (Host 2005). The levels of pH can also fluctuate due to human-induced reasons such as pollution and acid rain. Acid rain is any form of precipitation that has a pH level less than five (Mack 2014). Point source pollution can also influence pH levels. Chemicals from point source pollution result from agriculture and industrial runoff. Decreases in pH levels could result from respiration, decomposition, and an increase in carbon dioxide. Increases in pH levels result from photosynthesis and a decrease in carbon

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)

     “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

In general, acid rain affects lakes and streams in two ways, which are chronic and episodic.

Acid rain causes a cascade of effects that harm or kill individual fish, reduce fish population numbers, completely eliminate fish species from a water body, and decrease biodiversity. As acid rain flows through soils in a watershed, aluminum is released from soils into the lakes and streams located in that watershed. So, as pH in a lake or stream decreases, aluminum levels increase. Both low pH and increased aluminum levels are directly toxic to fish. In addition, low pH and increased aluminum levels cause chronic stress that may not kill individual fish, but leads to lower body weight and smaller size and makes fish less able to compete for food and habitat. Acid rain can hurt the environment in many ways one that gets affected by acid rain

     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 rain is a common term for pollution caused when sulfur and nitrogen dioxides combine with atmospheric moisture to produce a rain, snow, or hail of sulfuric and nitric acids. Such pollution may also be suspended in a fog, or the pollutants may be deposited in dry form. Environmental damage from acid rain has been reported in northern Europe and North America. High levels of acid rain have also been detected in other areas of the world, such as above the tropical rain forest of Africa. Acid rain has destroyed plant and animal life in lakes, damaged forests and crops, endangered marine life in coastal waters, eroded structures, and contaminated drinking water.

There are more social effects of acid rain one is that the health of the general population of a country seems to be worsening due to the air born acidic particles, so2 has now been regulated by the “clean air act” in 1990,when sulphur dioxide interacts in the atmosphere to form sulphur aerosols, which may be transported long distances through the air, most of these aerosols