Causes Acid Rain example essay topic

INTRODUCTION: Acid rain is a great problem in our world. It causes fish and plants to die in our waters. As well it causes harm to our own race as well, because we eat these fish, drink this water and eat these plants. It is a problem that we must all face together and try to get rid of. However acid rain on it's own is not the biggest problem. It cause many other problems such as aluminum poisoning.

Acid Rain is deadly. WHAT IS ACID RAIN? Acid rain is all the rain, snow, mist etc that falls from the sky onto our planet that contains an unnatural acidic. It is not to be confused with uncontaminated rain that falls, for that rain is naturally slightly acidic. It is caused by today's industry.

When products are manufactured many chemicals are used to create it. However because of the difficulty and cost of properly disposing of these products they are often emitted into the atmosphere with little or no treatment. The term was first considered to be important about 20 years ago when scientists in Sweden and Norway first believed that acidic rain may be causing great ecological damage to the planet. The problem was that by the time that the scientist found the problem it was already very large. Detecting an acid lake is often quite difficult.

A lake does not become acid over night. It happens over a period of many years, some times decades. The changes are usually to gradual for them to be noticed early. At the beginning of the 20th century most rivers / lakes like the river Tov dal in Norway had not yet begun to die. However by 1926 local inspectors were noticing that many of the lakes were beginning to show signs of death. Fish were found dead along the banks of many rivers.

As the winters ice began to melt off more and more hundreds upon hundreds more dead fish (trout in particular) were being found. It was at this time that scientist began to search for the reason. As the scientists continued to work they found many piles of dead fish, up to 5000 in one pile, further up the river. Divers were sent in to examine the bottom of the rivers.

What they found were many more dead fish. Many live and dead specimens were taken back to labs across Norway. When the live specimens were examined they were found to have very little sodium in their blood. This is typical a typical symptom of acid poisoning.

The acid had entered the gills of the fish and poisoned them so that they were unable to extract salt from the water to maintain their bodies sodium levels. Many scientist said that this acid poising was due to the fact that it was just after the winter and that all the snow and ice was running down into the streams and lakes. They believed that the snow had been exposed to many natural phenomena that gave the snow it's high acid content. Other scientists were not sure that this theory was correct because at the time that the snow was added to the lakes and streams the Ph levels would change from around 5.2 to 4.6. They believed that such a high jump could not be attributed to natural causes. They believed that it was due to air pollution.

They were right. Since the beginning of the Industrial revolution in England pollution had been affecting all the trees, soil and rivers in Europe and North America. However until recently the loses of fish was contained to the southern parts of Europe. Because of the constant onslaught of acid rain lakes and rivers began to lose their ability to counter act their affects. Much of the alkaline elements; such as calcium and limestone; in the soil had been washed away. It is these lakes that we must be worried about for they will soon become extinct.

A fact that may please fishermen is that in lakes / rivers they tend to catch older and larger fish. This may please them in the short run however they will soon have to change lakes for the fish supply will die quickly in these lakes. The problem is that acid causes difficulties the fish's reproductive system. Often fish born in acid lakes do not survive for they are born with birth defects such as twisted and deformed spinal columns. This is a sign that they are unable to extract enough calcium from the water to fully develop their bone. These young soon die.

With no competition the older, stronger can grow easily. However there food is contaminated as well by the acid in the water. Soon they have not enough food for themselves and turn to cannibalism. With only an older population left there is no one left to regenerate themselves. Soon the lake dies.

By the late 1970's many Norwegian scientists began to suspect that it was not only the acid in the water that was causing the deaths. They had proved that most fish could survive in a stream that had up to a 1 unit difference in PH. After many experiments and research they found that their missing link was aluminum. Aluminum is one of the most common metals on earth. It is stored in a combined form with other elements in the earth. When it is combined it cannot dissolve into the water and harm the fish and plants.

However the acid from acid rain can easily dissolve the bond between these elements. The Aluminum is then dissolved into a more soluble state by the acid. Other metals such as Copper (Cu), iron (Fe) etc can cause such effects upon the fish as well however it is the aluminum that is the most common. For example: CuO + H 2 SO 4 – – – - Cu SO 4 + H 2 O In this form it is easily absorbed into the water. When it comes in contact with fish it causes irritation to the gills. In response the fish creates a film of mucus in the gills to stop this irritation until the irritant is gone.

However the aluminum does not go always and the fish continues to build up more and more mucus to counteract it. Eventually there is so much mucus that it clogs the gills. When this happens the fish can no longer breath. It dies and then sinks to the bottom of the lake. Scientists now see acid, aluminum and shortages of calcium as the three determining factors in the extinction of fish. As well there is the problem of chlorine.

In many parts of the world it is commonly found in the soil. If it enters the fish's environment it can be deadly. It affects many of the fish's organisms and causes it to die. As well it interferes in the photosynthesis process in plants. NaOH + HCl – - NaCl + H 2 O The carbon in the water can become very dangerous for fish and plants in the water if the following reaction happens: CaCO 3 + 2 HCl – CaCl 2 + H 2 CO 3 then H 2 CO 3 – H 2 O + CO 2 The salt created by this reaction can kill.

It interferes directly with the fish's nervous system. Acid lakes are deceivingly beautiful. The are crystal clear and have a luscious carpet of green algae on the bottom. The reason that these lakes are so clear is because many of the de composers are dead. They cannot break down that material such as leaves and dead animals. These materials eventually sink to the bottom instead of going through the natural process of decomposition.

In acid lakes decomposition is very slow. "The whole metabolism of the lake is slowed down. ' During this same period of time the Canadian department of fisheries spent eight years dumping sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4) into an Ontario lake to see the effects of the decrease in the PH over a number of years. At the PH of 5.9 the first organisms began to disappear.

They were shrimps. They started out at a population of about seven million, but at the pH of 5.9 they were totally wiped out. Within a year the minnow died because it could no longer reproduce it's self. At this time the pH was of 5.8.

New trout were failing to be produced because many smaller organisms that served as food to it had been wiped out earlier. With not enough food the older fish did not have the energy to reproduce. Upon reaching the pH of 5.1 it was noted that the trout became cannibals. It is believed this is due to the fact that the minnow was nearly extinct. At a pH of 5.6 the external skeletons of crayfish softened and they were soon infected with parasites, and there eggs were destroyed by fungi. When the pH went down to 5.1 they were almost gone.

By the end of the experiment none of the major species had survived the trials of the acid. The next experiment conducted by the scientists was to try and bring the lake back to life. They cut in half the amount of acid that they dumped to simulate a large scale cleanup. Soon again the cockers and minnows began to reproduce again. The lake eventually did come back; to a certain extent; back to life. THE NEW THEORY: A scientist in Norway had a problem believing that it was the acid rain on it's own that was affecting the lakes in such a deadly way.

This scientist was Dr Rosenqvist. "Why is it that during heavy rain, the swollen rivers can be up to fifteen times more acid than the rain? It cannot be the rain alone that is doing it, can it?' Many scientist shunned him for this however they could not come up with a better answer. Soon the scientists were forced to accept this theory.

Sulfuric acid is composed of two parts, know as ions. The hydrogen ion is what make a substance acid. The other ion is sulphate. When there are more hydrogen ions then a substance is acid.

It is this sulphate ion that we are interested in. When the rain causes rivers to overboard onto the banks the river water passes through the soil. Since the industrial revolution in britain there has been an increasing amount of sulphur in the soil. In the river there is not enough sulphur for the acid to react in great quantities. However in the soil there is a great collection of sulphur to aid the reaction. When it joins the water the pH becomes much lower.

This is the most deadly effect of acid rain on our water! The water itself does not contain enough sulphur to kill off it's population of fish and plants. But with the sulphur in the soil it does. CONCLUSION: Acid rain is a big problem. It causes the death of our lakes, our rivers, our wild life and most importantly us. As well it causes other problems that are very serious as well such as the release of aluminium and lead into our water supplies.

We are suffering because of it. In Scotland there are many birth defects being attributed to it. We must cut down the releases of chemicals that cause it. But it will take time, even if we were to stop today we would have the problem for years to come because of the build up in the soil. Let's hope we can do something. BIBLIOGRAPHY Penguin Publishing House, 1987, Pearce Fred Acid Rain.

What is it and what is it doing to us? New York Publishers, 1989, William Stone Acid Rain. Fiend or Foe? Lucent books, Inc.

1990, Steward Gail Acid Rain. Acid Rain Acid rain is polluted rain. The pollutants go up to the atmosphere and when it rains it brings the pollution down with it. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are the gases that form the acid rain. When these gases mix with moisture it can make rain, snow, hail, or even fog. The scientific term for acid rain is acid deposition which means when the acid is taken from the air and is deposited on the earth.

Major industries, coal burning factories, power plants and automobile engines are the main sources of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide which causes acid rain. Volcanoes and forest fires also causes sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. Some of the many problems that come from acid rain is the killing of of many plants and underwater life in thousands of lakes and streams around the world. It strips forest soils of nutrients and damages farm crops. Acid rain can also corrode stone buildings, bridges, and priceless monuments. Acid rain can also be harmful to humans because acid rain kills the crops and fish we eat, ruins homes, and the acid can release lead in the pipes and the lead could go into our drinking water.

It is hard to determine where acid rain may fall next, because the wind from a polluted area could carry pollution to another area and the acid rain could fall there. The regions effected more by acid rain is large parts of eastern North America, Scandinavia, and central Europe. In alot of places acid rain isn't a probe lm because some soils can neutralize the acid and it doesn't effect the crops. Areas more sensitive to acid rain is in the western United States most of Washington all of Oregon, sections of California and most of Idaho. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and a large section of north east Canada. The soil in these places can not neutralize acid rain deposits, then the nutrients are stripped which means the crops in those places may not survive.

The Black forest is a mountainous region in Baden-Wurttemberg, in southwestern Germany. The valleys are fertile and make good pasture land as well as providing good soil vineyards. No forest region is showing serious effects of acid rain. Many trees are dying, the forest lost masses of needles, leaving them with sparse, sc ruffing crowns. Their major industries are Lumbering wood, manufacturing toys and cuckoo clocks. Winter sports and mineral springs attract tourists.

Acid rain can damage and ruin soils by stripping the soils nutrients. But some soils can neutralize and weaken acid deposits that fall from the sky. These soils are called alkaline soil, also called a base. In 1838 the German chemist Justus von Liebig offered the first really useful definition of an acid, namely, a compound containing hydrogen that can react with a metal to produce hydrogen gas. Soil is formed when rocks are broken up by the weather and erosion and mixed with organic matter from plants and animals. The term soil generally refers to the loose surface of the Earth, made from solid rock.

To the farmer, soil is the natural medium for growth of all land plants. The rocks that make up soil could be acid, neutral, or alkaline, another name for a base. Limestone and chalk are rocks that are formed from tiny shells that are rich in calcium. Alkaline is made up of calcium. When acid rain falls on alkaine soil the calcium makes the acid become weaker or neutralize.

Farmers put lime (a very strong alkaine substance) and special fertilizers in there soil neutralize the acid in the soil on a regular daily basis. In general, soil structure is classified as sandy, clay, or loam, although most garden soils are mixtures of the three in varying proportions. A sandy soil is very loose and will not hold water. A clay soil is dense and heavy, sticky when wet, and almost brick hard when dry. Loam is a mixture of sand and clay soils, but it also contains large quantities of humus, or decayed organic material, which loosens and aerates clay soil and binds sandy soil particles together. In addition, humus supplies plant nutrients.

Then, soil structure can be improved by digging in compost, manure, peat moss, and other organic matter. Parts of western United States, Minneapolis, northeastern North America and east and north Canada are places in North America where the is more sensitive to acid deposits then any other places. Many factors, including the soil chemistry and the type of rock determine the environments ability to neutralize the acid deposits from the rain. Soils naturally contain small amounts of poisonous minerals such as mercury, aluminum, and cadmium. Normally, these minerals do not cause serious problems, but as the acidity of the soil increases, chemical reactions allow the minerals to be absorbed by the plants. The plants are damaged and any animals that eat the plants will absorb the poisons, which will remain in the animals body and can hurt them or even kill them.

The harmful minerals can also leach out of the soil into streams and lakes where they can kill fish and other types of living creatures. The problem gets even bigger and bigger when pollution dumps more minerals in the soil. For example, in some parts of Poland vegetable crops have been found to contain ten times more lead than is considered safe. Some plants need and require soil, and the farmers do not want lime to be put in there soil. If acid requiring plants, such as some types of shurbs, are put in alkaline soil those plants are very likely to start to look yellow and very sickly very soon.

Even if the water you give to the plants came from limestone strata it could neutralize the soil. Continued use of some types of fertilizer may be cause the loss of acidity, too. If the soil does not have enough acid in it, it may be made more acidic by the application of alum, sulfur, or by adding gypsum to the soil. To add more acid to the soil you can also lift the plants and replacing the whole bed to a depth of nine inches with acid soil. It is not easy to make neutral soils acid. Sulfur is the most commonly used to increase the soils acidity, but it acts very slowly.

So acid rain is good for some plants in some places with alkaline soil because some of the plants want acid. Some acid requiring plants are several popular shurbs, including azalea, camelia, gardenias, blueberries, and rhododendron. Soils can be acid, alkaline, or neutral. The amounts of alkaline and acid in the soil influence the biological and chemical processes that take place in the soil. Highly alkaline or acid soils can harm many plants. Neutral soils can support most of the processes.

Florida's sandy soils are naturally acidic, but the soil is easily changed from acid to neutral or even a base (base is alkaline soil) by the small amounts of lime and calcium that come from tiny shells often found in the Florida's sandy beaches. When acid rain falls from the sky it gets into the soil. The plants only have time to absorb and store the water when the soil is wet. Then the leftover water in the soil evaporates back into the sky where it becomes water vapor, forms into clouds, and gets ready to rain again.

It is the same thing with acid rain. The acid doesn't stay in the soil. The acid evaporates back into the sky. Pedologist's are scientists who study the soil. They classify the soils according to the characteristics of a polypedon.

There are ten groups of soils, they are Alfisols, Aridisols, Entisols, Histosols, Inceptisols, Mollisols, Oxisols, Spodosols, Ulti sols, and Vertisols. Alfisols develop under forests and grasslands in humid climates. Aridisols occure in dry regions and contain small amounts of organic matter. Entisols show little development.

Histosols are organic soils. They form water situated enviornments, including swamps and bogs. Inceptisols are only slightly developed. Mollisols develop in praise regions. They have thick organically rich top soils.

Oxisols are the most chemically weathered soils. They have a reddish color and occure in the tropical parts of the world. Spodosols contains iron, aluminum, and organic matter in there B horizons. They form in humid climates. They are moist, well-developed, acid soils. Vertisols form in subhumid and arid warm climates.

They make wide, deep cracks during the dry season. Other soil groups are the tundra, podzol, chernozem. Tundra soils have dark brown surfaces and darker subsoil's than in arctic regions that are underlain by permafrost. The soils can be farmed if they are well drained and permafrost is absent or deep-lying. Podzol soils are moderately to strongly leached soils in forests and in humid regions.

They are not naturally very productive for agriculture. Chernozem soils (from Russian for "black earth') have a dark surface layer underlain by more lightly colored soil. They typically develop under grasses while the temperate is cool. Subhumid climates are highly productive, although they require fertilizers after a long use. Acid Rain THOUGHTS ON ACID RAIN Acid rain is a serious problem with disastrous effects. Each day this serious problem increases, many people believe that this issue is too small to deal with right now this issue should be met head on and solved before it is too late.

In the following paragraphs I will be discussing the impact has on the wildlife and how our atmosphere is being destroyed by acid rain. CAUSES Acid rain is a cancer eating into the face of Eastern Canada and the North Eastern United States. In Canada, the main sulphuric acid sources are non- ferrous smelters and power generation. On both sides of the border, cars and trucks are the main sources for nitric acid (about 40% of the total), while power generating plants and industrial commercial and residential fuel combustion together contribute most of the rest. In the air, the sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can be transformed into sulphuric acid and nitric acid, and air current can send them thousands of kilometres from the source. When the acids fall to the earth in any form it will have large impact on the growth or the preservation of certain wildlife.

NO DEFENSE Areas in Ontario mainly southern regions that are near the Great Lakes, such substances as limestone or other known antacids can neutralize acids entering the body of water thereby protecting it. However, large areas of Ontario that are near the Pre-Cambrian Shield, with quartzite or granite based geology and little top soil, there is not enough buffering capacity to neutralize even small amounts of acid falling on the soil and the lakes. Therefore over time, the basic environment shifts from an alkaline to a acidic one. This is why many lakes in the Muskoka, Haliburton, Algonquin, Parry Sound and Manitoulin districts could lose their fisheries if sulphur emissions are not reduced substantially. ACID The average mean of pH rainfall in Ontario's Muskoka-Haliburton lake country ranges between 3.95 and 4.38 about 40 times more acidic than normal rainfall, while storms in Pennsylvania have rainfall pH at 2.8 it almost has the same rating for vinegar.

Already 140 Ontario lakes are completely dead or dying. An additional 48 000 are sensitive and vulnerable to acid rain due to the surrounding concentrated acidic soils. ACID RAIN CONSISTS OF.? Canada does not have as many people, power plants or automobiles as the United States, and yet acid rain there has become so severe that Canadian government officials called it the most pressing environmental issue facing the nation. But it is important to bear in mind that acid rain is only one segment, of the widespread pollution of the atmosphere facing the world. Each year the global atmosphere is on the receiving end of 20 billion tons of carbon dioxide, 130 million tons of suffer dioxide, 97 million tons of hydrocarbons, 53 million tons of nitrogen oxides, more than three million tons of arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, zinc and other toxic metals, and a host of synthetic organic compounds ranging from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to toxaphene and other pesticides, a number of which may be capable of causing cancer, birth defects, or genetic imbalances.

COST OF ACID RAIN Interactions of pollutants can cause problems. In addition to contributing to acid rain, nitrogen oxides can react with hydrocarbons to produce ozone, a major air pollutant responsible in the United States for annual losses of $2 billion to 4.5 billion worth of wheat, corn, soy beans, and peanuts. A wide range of interactions can occur many unknown with toxic metals. In Canada, Ontario alone has lost the fish in an estimated 4000 lakes and provincial authorities calculate that Ontario stands to lose the fish in 48 500 more lakes within the next twenty years if acid rain continues at the present rate. Ontario is not alone, on Nova Scotia's Eastern most shores, almost every river flowing to the Atlantic Ocean is poisoned with acid.

Further threatening a $2 million a year fishing industry. THE DYING Acid rain is killing more than lakes. It can scar the leaves of hardwood forest, wither ferns and lichens, accelerate the death of coniferous needles, sterilize seeds, and weaken the forests to a state that is vulnerable to disease infestation and decay. In the soil the acid neutralizes chemicals vital for growth, strips others from the soil and carries them to the lakes and literally retards the respiration of the soil. The rate of forest growth in the White Mountains of New Hampshire has declined 18% between 1956 and 1965, time of increasingly intense acidic rainfall. Acid rain no longer falls exclusively on the lakes, forest, and thin soils of the Northeast it now covers half the continent.

EFFECTS There is evidence that the rain is destroying the productivity of the once rich soils themselves, like an overdose of chemical fertilizer or a gigantic drenching of vinegar. The damage of such overdosing may not be repairable or reversible. On some croplands, tomatoes grow to only half their full weight, and the leaves of radishes wither. Naturally it rains on cities too, eating away stone monuments and concrete structures, and corroding the pipes which channel the water away to the lakes and the cycle is repeated.

Paints and automobile paints have its life reduce due to the pollution in the atmosphere speeding up the corrosion process. In some communities the drinking water is laced with toxic metals freed from metal pipes by the acidity. As if urban skies were not already grey enough, typical visibility has declined from 10 to 4 miles, along the Eastern seaboard, as acid rain turns into smogs. Also, now there are indicators that the components of acid rain are a health risk, linked to human respiratory disease. PREVENTION However, the acidification of water supplies could result in increased concentrations of metals in plumbing such as lead, copper and zinc which could result in adverse health effects. After any period of non-use, water taps at summer cottages or ski chalets they should run the taps for at least 60 seconds to flush any excess debris.

STATISTICS Although there is very little data, the evidence indicates that in the last twenty to thirty years the acidity of rain has increased in many parts of the United States. Presently, the United States annually discharges more than 26 million tons of suffer dioxide into the atmosphere. Just three states, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois are responsible for nearly a quarter of this total. Overall, two- thirds of the suffer dioxide into the atmosphere over the United States comes from coal-fired and oil fired plants. Industrial boilers, smelters, and refineries contribute 26%; commercial institutions and residences 5%; and transportation 3%. The outlook for future emissions of suffer dioxide is not a bright one.

Between now and the year 2000, United States utilities are expected to double the amount of coal they burn. The United States currently pumps some 23 million tons of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere in the course of the year. Transportation sources account for 40%; power plants, 30%; industrial sources, 25%; and commercial institutions and residues, 5%. What makes these figures particularly distributing is that nitrogen oxide emissions have tripled in the last thirty years. Acid rain is very real and a very threatening problem. Action by one government is not enough.

In order for things to be done we need to find a way to work together on this for at least a reduction in the contaminates contributing to acid rain. Although there are right steps in the right directions but the government should be cracking down on factories not using the best filtering systems when incinerating or if the factory is giving off any other dangerous fumes. I would like to express this question to you, the public: WOULD YOU RATHER PAY A LITTLE NOW OR A LOT LATER? Acid Rain As the century past, the industrial society kept advancing.

However, many advantages of the industrial society brings us also has a down side. One of the adverse effects of industrialization is acid deposition due to power plant, fossil fuel and automobile emissions. Acid rain is the popular term but the scientists prefer the term acid deposition. Acid rain can have adverse effects on the environment by damaging forests or by lowering the pH of the lakes and making the water too acidic for many aquatic plants and animals to live. The father of acid rain research is an Englishman named Charles Angus Smith who suggested in, 1852, that sulfuric acid in Manchester, English, was causing metal to rust and dyed goods to fade. One source that causes acid rain are fossil fuel.

Fossil fuel has many usage in our society. Such as to power electric power plants, industrial boilers, smelters, businesses, schools, homes and vehicles of all sort. These various energy sources contribute 23.1 million tons of sulfur dioxide and 20.5 million tons of nitrogen oxides to our atmosphere worldwide. When fossil fuels are ignited like oil and coal, they release carbon dioxide, a so-called greenhouse gas that traps heat within the earth's atmosphere which causes global warming that is taking place right now. Also, it releases sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and various metals (mercury, aluminum) that are released into the atmosphere that react.