Acid Rain

Acid Rain: Causes, Effects and Remedies

Our race has changed the course of nature and evolution. Not only that, but it has affected weather as well, with irrational behavior, to be more specific, it has affected rain, which in many parts of the world became acidic.

According to geography.com, acid rain is caused by the release of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide during fuel combustion and also by volcanoes, but in a much lower degree than the previously mentioned gases. A chemical reaction takes place between these tow previously mentioned oxides, water, oxygen and other gases that are present in the atmosphere. The result is formation of sulfuric acid, ammonium nitrate and  nitric acid. To make things even worse, wind currents, spread the clouds that carry potential acid rain, so it falls on the ground in different parts, and pollutes the Earth even more as can be seen in the picture (figure 1).

Figure 1, formation of acid rain.

However, there are, unfortunately, more forms of pollution because of acid rain. It can: pollute water bodies, trees in the forest, fields, roads and destroy architecture. Acid rain has two ways of spreading, in dry and wet deposition as shown in figure 2.

Figure 2, dry and wet deposition of acid rain.

Water bodies are an important segment of the Earth's structure. There is about 71% of water on the Earth's surface according to water.usgs.gov. The normal pH value of a lake is generally, during the summer months in the upper portion of a productive or eutrophic lake, between 7.5 and 8.5. In the bottom of the lake or in less productive lakes, according too lakeaccess.org. A problem of this nature has already occured in the USA and Canada, where the pH is lower than the normal one, it's about 5.3. If we can't preserve the natural habitats where water organisms live, or the water that we use for drinking, then life won't exist in the waters anymore because of the abnormal acidity and we won't have anymore water to drink. That will create chaos in the food chain, because some birds have fish for prey and if they don't have what to eat, the organisms that eat those birds won't have a source of food, so the food chain will be systematically destroyed.

Another problem is the pollution of trees in a forest. It is simple why we need trees to survive and there is much more to them than just something that covers a hill. Trees are our source of oxygen and damaging their leaves, bark or stopping their growth would expose them to the risk of being infected with various diseases, getting eaten by insects or extreme weather. Pictures tell more than words, figure 3.

Figure 3, a forest before and after acid rain.

Soil is also affected by acid rain, as previously mentioned. Acid falling on a forest's soil is also harmful because it disrupts soil nutrients, kills microorganisms in the soil and can sometimes cause a calcium deficiency. There is no difference between soil in forests and soil in the countryside where it is used to grow crops. Plants will have obvious health problems since they start growing on that polluted soil.

Monuments are an important part of history. They tell us about the past. If we cannot preserve them we cannot preserve our history for future generations. When acid rain fall on monuments they can change their color, pock marks in their structures, some of their parts will get disintegrated or in the worst case scenario, they will disappear, if taken from ehow.com and as it is show in figure 4 below.

Figure 4, acid rain destroying monuments.

The next thing is to know how to protect ourselves from acid rain. As suggested from epa.gov, there are various ways in we can do this. The only question if is we are willing to do it. We should clean up smoke stacks and exhaust pipes. By cleaning the coil from SO2 in it. The only question is if we are willing to do it. We should clean up smoke stacks and exhaust pipes. By cleaning the coil from SO2 in it. Although, we already contributed to the destruction of forests, soil, waters and monuments, we can still restore them by changing their chemistry or ecosystem, depending upon the case. Another option is using alternative energy sources such as wind energy, water current, sunlight or the energy of tides and ebbs, nuclear energy, biomass and geothermal energy (figure 5, alternative sources of energy)

Figure 5, alternative sources of energy

To conclude, acid rain is a difficult problem that we have to face sooner or later, but like any other problem in life, there is a way of solving it.