Causes, Effects and Remedies of Acid Rain.

Themistoklis Daniilidis

Mr. Patrick Youell

Acid Rain

3/20/2015

Causes, Effects and Remedies of Acid Rain

Acid rain is one of the results of air pollution. It is a mixture full of nitric, sulfuric and carbonic acids. This mixture though isn't always resulting as a rain, but can also be formed as snow, fog or little dry material which settles on Earth. Acid rain isn't always the same acidic. This type of acidity is most of the times measured with a scale called pH. The pH scale (Figure 1) goes from zero to 14: As lower the number is as more acidic a certain substance/ mixture is. If the pH of a substance is seven then it is neutral, if it is more than seven then it is an aciline (Opposite of acidic). Rain though has always been at least a bit acidic, since it mixes up with natural oxides in the air. This "clear", unpolluted rain would have about five to six pH value. When it becomes more poluted, "acidic" as we call it the pH value decreases to about four. The strongest acids (about 2.2pH) are like vinegar, since we know that vinegar can't hurt us, what are the reasons we worry about acid rain? 

Figure 1: The pH Scale.

According to National Geographic most acid rain has been created from human activities but also from erupting volcanoes, rotting vegetation and other events in nature. "When humans burn fossil fuels, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (Nox) are released into the atmosphere. These chemical gases react with water, oxygen and other substances to form mild solutions of sulfuric and nitric acid. Winds may spread these acidic solutions across the atmosphere and over hundreds of miles. When acid rain reaches Earth, it flows across the surface in runoff water, enters water systems, and sinks into the soil." (Natural Geographic). From this quote we can absolutely see how humans affect this scary pollution and acid rain. Factories and vehicle transportation (Main human activities) really make the situation worse.   As NCUS informs us, the effects on  nature are surprisingly really dangerous and not many people are aware of that. Plants and tress grow slower and occasionally die because of acid rain since it dissolves the nutrients and minerals which are needed in order for the trees to grow. It also releases harmful substances for the trees in the soil, such as aluminum. They also don't let the plants to synthesize properly because it destroys the protective coating of leaves. The combination of all those terrible effects on plants and trees make them weaker, and they become able to to easily get diseases, injuries by bad weather and and insects. Figure 2: Big color difference between leaves after acid rain (Left side) and leaves before Acid Rain (Right side).  Effects on rivers, lakes (aquatic habitats) and the sea are also awful. As we all know, the rain goes down the land and always ends at rivers, lakes or the sea (also directly). While the acidity of water increases, more and more water animals (Figure 3) and plants aren’t able to survive. It is also really possible that it deforms fish eggs and prevents them from being able to hatch later on.  Because of this, acid rain does not only harm one generation, but many and more species tend to decline. The aquatic nature gets poorer and poorer because of the acid rain. Every place has its own ecosystem (Figure 4), same with lakes, marshes and rivers. If one specie dies then another one will not be able to survive. Their life depends on each other. It is like a chain, if one dies, all of them get harmed. Figure 3: Dead fish at the beach after harmful acid rain.  Figure 3: Dead fish at the beach after harmful acid rain.  Figure 4: Trying to save an ecosystem.  Figure 4: Trying to save an ecosystem.  In order to change this situation, governments should spend much more money on pollution control. Hydroelectric and nuclear power should be used more. Those ways to produce energy should be advertised so that people learn about them. In windy and sunny places there should always be windmills and solar energy system. All cars should only be permitted to be used when they have converter to remove dangerous chemicals from the exhaust gases. Except though all these great ideas the most important thing is how people see this situation. Many people don’t care about all this because they have no idea, people should be taught about this. They then should change their logic, thinking not how they will have a better and easier life now, but how the future will be for next generations, not only human ones but also animals and plants. Figure 5: Formation of Acid Rain and its results.                                                              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. (http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/acid-rain-overview/) -"What Is Acid Rain?" What Is Acid Rain? N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. (http://www.ncsu.edu/project/bio183de/Black/chemreview/chemreview_reading/acid_rain.html) -EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. (http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/education/site_students/whatisacid.html) - "Environmental Effects of Acid Rain." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. (http://www.epa.gov/region1/eco/acidrain/enveffects.html) -Google Images