Acid Rain

Kiril Todorov

Mr. Youell

19.3.15

Science 9B

Acid Rain

            Acid rain is currently not a major problem however it can escalate into something bigger if it is not stopped. In order for actions to be taken first we need to understand the cause of acid rain, the damage it does to nature and how we can prevent this from happening. 

            Acid rain is a result of a chemical reaction between water and different chemicals such as; sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) . The chemicals can very easily rise into the air, into the atmosphere where they mix with the water vapor in the clouds and from there this acidic mixture can then come down as acid rain, snow, or even fog (fig 1).

 (Fig1 Cycle of how chemicals are mixed with water to create acid rain.)

 Another reason why this is such a problem is because the chemicals can really easily travel a long distance with the wind and have effects a regions which are not near the location that is producing the pollution. Acid rain is caused due to different human activities, the chemicals released in the air from things such as; power plants, cars, the burning of fossil fuels in order to produce electricity. Infact this pollution is so bad that it has altered the chemicals that make up or atmosphere. Naturally there is a certain amount of alkaline chemicals and acids in nature and they do get caught up in the water cycle, however they are no where as much as the amounts that are produced currently. So therefor acid rain has been a natural occurrence and the nature can cope with it to some extent however the acidity of the rain would be no where near as high as it is currently and that is the cause of the problem.

            Acid rain is not only harmful to humans, but also to the nature and marine life. Acid rain does not have direct effect on humans as even though it is acidic it is not strong enough to cause any direct physical damage to a human being, however the problem is the cause of acid rain which is air pollution that is harmful for humans. The chemical particles are dangerous for the respiratory system as they can cause asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory problems, but unlike humans the forest is affected much greater way from the acid rain. First of all when the water is absorbed by the soil it dissolves nutrition like magnesium and calcium which trees need in order to stay healthy, meanwhile it also releases aluminum into the soil which causes the trees to have problems absorbing water. The other problem is that actually the trees that are the furthest away from the factories and are located on mountains are under the biggest peril, as the acids rain is carried off through clouds and when it condenses in the mountain creating an acidic fog and raining it damages the nutrients in the leaves/needles causing the trees to be more prominent to infections (fig 2).

   

(Fig 2 On the left is the branch damaged from acid rain while on the right is a healthy branch)

 It also has effect to marine life as the Ph levels of water become more acidic at such a fast rate the aquatic life can not cope and adapt and therefore may die out if the pollution continues, this becomes a bigger problem during spring due to the larger amount of water and all the rain and snow gathering into lakes. This occurrence is known as episodic acidification. At the increasing rate of air pollution nature is slowly getting damage more and more and soon more noticeable changes might occur if the pollution is not stopped, or decreased.

            As with every other major problem there are already solutions in place to help with the air pollution so it can prevent acid rain. In 1990 a Clean Air Act Amendment was issued which limited the release of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide from power plants. Also scientists have come up with different ways to also clean the toxic smoke that is being emitted when the fossil fuels are burnt, some of the methods vary from using coal containing less sulfur, to using machines called scrubbers(fig 3).

 

 (Fig 3 a simple diagram of how a scrubber works.)

These machines where originally made to remove carbon dioxide from a submarine and it was refereed to as “pollution control devices that use liquid to wash unwanted pollutants from a gas stream” and that is exactly their purpose in the power plants however instead of just removing carbon dioxide they also remove sulfur dioxide from being emitted into the air.

            In order to prevent acid rain we need to understand the cause of it and stop it at the source because once the chemicals react with water there is nothing that we can do to stop the damage that acid rain creates. Big industries have taken it upon themselves to reduce the amount of air pollution created by their business now it is turn for the everyday people to take action and limit their use of fossil fuels to prevent pollution.

Bibliography:

"Acid Rain Facts, Acid Rain Information, Acid Rain Pictures, Acid Rain Effects - National Geographic." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

"Acid Rain." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.s)." 

"Clean Air Act (United States)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.

"Scrubber." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.

"Acid Rain Effects." The Effects of Acid Rain on the Environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.