One study found that acid rain in China may have even contributed to a deadly landslide. China is implementing controls for sulfur dioxide emissions, which have fallen 75 percent since —but India's have increased by half. All rights reserved. What is Acid Rain? Causes of acid rain Rotting vegetation and erupting volcanoes release some chemicals that can cause acid rain, but most acid rain is a product of human activities. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London.
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Animals Wild Cities Morocco has 3 million stray dogs. A paper released in the online version of the journal of Environmental Science and Technology in showed evidence of acid rain stunting tree growth. Geological Survey scientist who headed the effort. Acid rain can also change the composition of soil and bodies of water, making them uninhabitable for local animals and plants.
For example, healthy lakes have a pH of 6. As acid rain raises the level of acidity, fish tend to die off. Most fish species can't survive a water pH of below 5. When the pH becomes a 4, the lake is considered dead, according to National Atmospheric Deposition Program. It can additionally deteriorate limestone and marble buildings and monuments, like gravestones.
There are several solutions to stopping manmade acid rain. Regulating the emissions coming from vehicles and buildings is an important step, according to the EPA. The wind blows these acidic particles and gases towards buildings, cars, homes and trees. Dry deposited gases and particles can also be washed from trees and other surfaces by rainstorms.
When that happens, the runoff water adds those acids to the acid rain, making the combination more acidic than the falling rain alone. Precipitation that has a pH value of less than seven may contain acidic rain. This is due to the presence of acidic oxide emissions in the atmosphere from industries and vehicles. However, a rainfall that has a pH value of less than 5. It is formed when sulphur dioxides and nitrogen oxides, as gases or fine reacts with rain water.
Particles in the atmosphere combine with water vapour and precipitate as sulphuric acid or nitric acid in rain, snow, or fog. Therefore, the main objective of this paper was to assess the effect of acid rain on environment and to suggest the methods of preventing acid rain.
Moreover, to review what have done on acid rain before and to forecast what will have done in the future. This is the first phase of the research. It will continued more on experimental result in the second phase of the paper. Acid rain is measured using pH meter from 1 to 14 value scales with a pH of 7. When the PH value lowers, the acidity nature of rain increases. Pure water has a pH value of 7. However, normal rain is slightly acidic because different acidic oxide emissions react with rain that lowers the pH value about 5.
According to report, the most acidic rain falling in the US has a pH of about 4. This acid rain's pH and the chemicals that cause acid rain are monitored by two networks that are supported by EPA. The National Atmospheric Deposition Program measures wet deposition, and its Web site features maps of rainfall pH follow the link to the isopleths maps and other important precipitation chemistry measurements.
Its web site features information about the data it collects, the measuring sites, and the kinds of equipment it uses [ 5 ]. These components are deposited as dry and wet depositions. When these pollutants are dissolved in water during rain it forms various acids Figure 1. The chemical reactions of these pollutants are discussed as follows.
Figure 1: Flow chart that shows the formation of acid rain and its interaction with environment. Natural sources and human activities are the main causes for the formation of acid rain in the world. Natural source causes are emissions from volcanoes and biological processes that occur on the land, in wetlands, and in the oceans contribute acid-producing gases to the atmosphere ; and Effects of acidic deposits have been detected in glacial ice thousands of years old in remote parts of the globe.
Whereas, activities of human beings are burning of coal, using Oil and natural gas in power stations to produce electricity, cooking purpose and to run their vehicles are giving off oxide of sulphur, oxides of carbon, oxides of nitrogen, residual hydrocarbons and particulate matters to the environment.
These emissions mix with water vapour and rainwater in the atmosphere producing weak solutions of sulphuric and nitric acids, which fall back as acid rain to the ocean, lake and land. Large smelters in western Ontario and steel processing plants in Indiana, Ohio historically used coal as a source of fuel.
The sulfur dioxide produced was carried eastward by the jet stream. If a lake has a low pH, that tells us that there is a high amount of acid in the lake. If a lake has a pH 8 or above, it is alkaline, which means there is not a lot of acid in it.
When a body of water has a pH of 7, it is neutral, since it is in the middle. New York State's rain pH level is between 4 and 4. That is 30 times more acidic than the normal level! Remember : All bodies of water have acid in it, but the problem with acid rain is that too much acid is accumulating, and the effects are harmful.
One of the central sources of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide come from power plants. When power plants generate electricity, they are burning the fossil fuel, coal. Coal is sometimes dubbed as the dirty fuel source because when it is burned, it lets out sulfur, nitrogen, and other gases.
The more coal we use, the more sulfur and nitrogen we are admitting into our atmosphere. Fumes and emissions from cars and other vehicles are also another source of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. Acid deposition is very dangerous for trees and forests because it rids the soil of very important nutrients trees need to survive, like magnesium and calcium.
Without these vital nutrients, the trees are more vulnerable to infections and damage by cold weather and insects. Acid rain also allows aluminum to seep into the soil, and with too much aluminum in the soil, the trees have a very hard time collecting water.
Acid rain is even thought to destroy leafs' outer-coat and when it finally wears down, the acid can make its way into the tree, which prevents photosynthesis from taking place. Photosynthesis makes food and energy for the plant, and without it, the plant or tree dies.
Not only are plants affected by acid deposition, but humans are too. If we breathe in the infinitesimal acid particles, we are prone to getting lung and respiratory problems and diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis long-term , and pneumonia.
Just in the United States and Canada alone, there were visits to the emergency room because of dry deposition. Yet, if you swim in a body of water with a high acidity level, nothing will happen to your body.
Acid Rain proposes a very harmful affect on the ecosystems as well. The acidity in the water can cause many fish and sea life to die, and that can throw off the whole food-chain.
A test was done and the results, which were published in , showed that most of the lakes in the Adirondack area had low pH levels and that the lakes with these low levels had no fish. In , the Clean Coal Technology Program was established to help make the burning of coal "cleaner. There are many ways coal can become cleaner, such as crushing it and washing it before using it, because by doing so some of the sulfur is being removed. This system works by spraying a limestone and water mixture on the pipe where the smoke from the coal is released.
When the lime meets the smoke, with the sulfur in it, the smoke is absorbed into it and becomes a gooey liquid or powder and the most of the sulfur is trapped. You can then recycle the liquid or powder to make objects such as concrete blocks. These are just some of the ways coal can cause less pollution, and there are many more ways.
In , Congress passed the Clean Air Act. This program strives hard to achieve both environmental and health satisfaction by limiting the amount of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide admitted into the air by power plants. If we reduce air pollution, acid rain might become a thing of the past!
Think of a place that you really love to go and picture it polluted in future years. Not a nice thought, right?
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