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What is Acid Rain? Acid rain is a form of precipitation that falls to the earth as rain. For rain to be acidic it has a pH level of less than 5. 6. The corrosive nature of acid rain causes widespread damage to the environment. The problem begins with the production of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas, oil and other kinds of manufacturing. When these pollutants are in the air, they react with water and other chemicals, to form sulfuric acid, nitric acid, sulfuric acid and other pollutants.
Once these pollutants are in the air, they can travel for many miles, and when rain clouds get to heavy to hold all the moisture they drop their deadly load of chemicals onto the earth in a form of rain, snow, hail or fog. In Eastern North America, throughout Europe, Japan, China, and Southeast Asia damage from acid rain has been widespread. Acid rain causes nutrients from the soil to disappear, causes trees to grow slower, causes aquatic life in lakes to die off and as well wildlife. Acid rain also affects cities by corroding everything that the rain touches. Acid rain accelerates the natural wear and tear on structures such as buildings and statues. Acid rain also forms urban smog, which attacks the lungs, causing severe health problems for the elderly.
Formation of Acid Rain The formation of acid rain starts off with the burning of fossil fuels. Burning is a chemical reaction, in which oxygen from the air combines with carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and other elements in the substance that is being burned. The new compounds that are being formed are gases called oxides. When sulfur and nitrogen are present in the substance being burned, their reaction with oxygen yields sulfur dioxide and various nitrogen oxide compounds.
In the United States, 70 percent of sulfur dioxide pollution comes from power plants, especially those that burn coal. In Canada, oil refining and metal smelting, account for 61 percent of sulfur dioxide pollution. Nitrogen oxides enter the atmosphere from many sources, with vehicles emitting the largest share, 43 percent in the United States and 60 percent in Canada. When these chemicals are in the air, the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides undergo a very complicated reaction with water vapor and other chemicals to yield sulfuric and nitric acid.
The compounds that are now formed travel in the air currents for many kilometers at a time. When the air becomes dense with moisture, clouds form in the acidic air and so when precipitation comes down as rain, snow etc, the acids fall with them back to earth. Effects of Acid Rain When looking at the effects of acid rain there is a scale on with scientists use. The pH scale has units from 0 14.
Acidic substances have a pH number from 1 to 6, the lower the number the higher the corrosiveness. Alkalis are bases and are non acidic substances and they have pH values for 8 to 14, the higher the value the higher the alkalinity. Pure water has a neutral pH of 7 and it is neither an acid nor a base. Rain, snow, hail etc with a pH value below 5. 6 is considered acid rain.
If there is a high acid and high bases are in the air, they mix and form normal rain when they fall to earth. This is a normal occurrence in nature. When rain falls with a pH near 5. 6 the alkaline chemicals in the environment, found in rocks, soil etc absorb and neutralize this acidic rain. If rainfalls with a pH lower then 5. 6, the environment is unable to neutralize the acid rain. When this rainfalls it damages whole ecosystems and even destroys man made structures. Effects on Soil When acid rain reaches the soil it washes away all the important nutrients that plants need to survive on.
It also dissolves small quantities of aluminum and mercury that are present in the soil. Once the toxics are freed they are either flushed into the water systems or absorbed into plants causing drastic affects if eaten by humans. In some places the soil may be high in alkaline bases and so the soil is unaffected by the rain, but normally there is only a small amount of alkaline in normal soil and so with two or three acid rain falls the acid is only stopped briefly. Once there in no more alkaline the acid is free to destroy the fragile ground at its own will.
Effects on Trees When there are no nutrients left in the soil, the growth of plants and trees are reduced dramatically. When acid rain falls upon trees, the corrosiveness of the precipitation destroys the waxy coating on the leave and needles causing the needles and leaves to die. If a tree looses most of the waxy coating on its needles and leaves the tree loses the ability to make its food by use of photosynthesis. Also without the protective coating the tree loses its defense that help the tree defend off diseases, resulting in that the tree will be come weaker and be vulnerable to other stresses such as insects, drought, and cold temperatures. The cold temperatures are mainly responsible for the death of most trees under these conditions of acid rain.
Effects on Plants and Animals When acid rain falls on certain plants that animals feed off of the effects can be very damaging. If all the plants die that a certain animal feeds off of the animal will not most likely survive. In the end the worst thing that could happen is that a whole ecosystem could become endangered. To explain what an ecosystem is I will use a scenario. When a water system pH level becomes lower than 6. 0 the insects and plankton that the fish feed off of start to die off. When the fish cant find any food to feed off of, their population in a certain area begins to die.
Once the fish population becomes endangered, the land creatures like bears, eagles, and raccoons become affected and start to die off too. If conditions like this happen over a wide area whole populations can die off just because of acid rainfall. Effects on Water Sources After a heavy rainfall all the extra precipitation ends up in streams and lakes. When spring comes the snow melts and also ends up in streams and lakes.
Normally the waters are usually neutral, meaning that they have a pH between 6 and 8. If the rain that fell and the snow that melted have a very high pH level it would affect the normal water by making it acidic. Once the water has a pH value below 5. 6, the water is acidic and aquatic life starts to die. If the pH value of the water doesnt get better, the lakes and streams / rivers will be come sterile and not hold any kind of life forms. Man Made Structures Plants, animals, trees, and water systems arent the only thing that acid rain destroys, acid rain also effects buildings, cars, statues, etc. The corrosive damage can be expensive to fix and in cities with old historic buildings statues very devastating.
To give an idea of how much cost is involved, take the United States as an example. In 1990 the U. S spent 35 billion on paint damage. On ancient Roman monuments it cost the Roman Government 200 million dollars to restore them. These are just a...
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