Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Impacts of acid rain on the environment
How does acid rain affect aquatic ecosystems
Acid rain as a man made hazard
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Impacts of acid rain on the environment
Every day, factories, power plants, and even your cars emit dangerous chemicals into our atmosphere. When these chemicals mix with the moisture in our air, acid rain is produced. Acid rain falls onto lakes, rivers, fields, and forests destroying them. Acid rain is a serious environmental concern, however, it can be prevented. Acid rain is made of many forms of precipitation, with higher levels of nitric and sulfuric acids ("Acid Rain Facts"). One source of acid rain is naturally occurring, such as when a volcano erupts. Other types of acid rain are caused by man-made activities. One example of this is car exhaust. Car exhaust causes the production of nitrogen oxides "in the air" ("Acid Rain: Do you need"). These gases cause airborne sulfuric acid (H2SO4) as well as nitric acid (HNO3) to be produced and dissolved into water vapor in the air ("Acid Rain Facts"). Burning fossil fuels and coal burning in power plants and factories is another way that acid rain is created. When pollution is released into the air, it can fall in the form of rain or snow, creating acid rain ("Acid Rain"). …show more content…
Acid rain contaminates and poisons many areas. Even though most environments are affected by acid rain, some places can handle certain amounts of acid rain. Some bases/soils have a greater pH than 7, so when acid rain combines with the soil, it tensions out the acidity. Some areas, however that include Rocky Mountains as well as the Northeastern and Southeastern U.S, limestone is not naturally available. Due to that, acid rain is much more harmful to the environment. Many animals like fish and frogs have a difficult time adapting to their environments and a hard time reproducing in areas contaminated with acid rain. Not just animals are affected, but trees are also hurt. One type of tree that can be affected by acid rain and acid fog is the Evergreen tree ("Acid Rain: Do you
from solid or not. He is going to conduct an experiment that will tell him if
“North Americans have been smelting ore and burning fossil fuels for generations. In the past, the gases went up ordinary chimneys or small smoke stacks, to descend upon near by areas and pollute them,” states author, Robert Collins. Almost everyone knows what acid rain is and has a vague idea of the consequences that exist as a cause of it. Most people however do not realize the severity of acid rain. The essay “Acid Rain: Scourge from the Skies” by Robert Collins was very effective in showing the true severity of acid rain. By using excellent developmental devices, Robert Collins was able to write an effective essay that is appealing to today’s society, as well as informative especially for today’s constantly changing world.
Rain is naturally acidic, due to the CO2 dissolved in it, however when sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen react with the rain water they form sulphuric, and nitric acids which make the rain strongly acidic. SO2 + ½O2 + H2O → H2SO4 It may also take the form of snow or fog. The sulphur dioxides and oxides of nitrogen come mainly from industry. Acid rain is currently a subject of great controversy because of widespread environmental damage for which it has been blamed, including eroding structures, injuring crops and forests, and threatening or depleting life in freshwater lakes.
Acid rain has been proven to have damage forests, fresh waters and soils, killing insect and aquatic life-forms. It also causes damage to buildings and impacts on human health. Many people do not know what acid rain actually is. Acid rain is any form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, low pH levels, higher than normal amounts of sulfuric and nitric acid, occurs naturally and from man made sources. Forms when gases react in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and other chemicals (what is acid rain?). The only water that will not have some amount of acidity is pure water. Pure water has a pH of 7 which is neutral; regular, unpolluted rain water has a pH of around 5.6. The acidity in rain water comes from the presence of Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen Oxide, and Sulfur Dioxide. CO2 reacts with water to form carbonic acid. Nitrogen and water react during lightning storms, forming Nitric Oxide. NO is then oxidized to form N02. The NO2 reacts with water to form nitric acid. Due to this, the pH is lowered to be slightly acidic (Acid Rain). Acid rain can occur naturally in the environment, but the problem occurs when human interaction is the cause of the acidic levels.
Acid rain affects many things in our world greatly. Acid rain is precipitation that has been released into the atmosphere and is very harmful and can do lots of damage.
Acid rain can effect trees in several different ways. It can dissolve and wash away the minerals and nutrients in the soil. These factors in the soil help the trees to grow and is very important. Acid rain also cause the release of dangerous substances such as aluminum into the soil. Photosynthesis is also affected because of the waxy protective layer of the leaves being harmed. A combination of these effects weakens the trees which means that they can be more easily attacked by diseases and insects or injured by bad weather. It is not just trees that are affected by acid rain, other plants may also suffer.
Rain occurs nature as part of the water cycle, but sometimes rain can do more harm than good. Acid rain can causes damage to plants, animals, and even structures. Acid rain occurs naturally without human interference, but since humans started to make objects that contribute to the creation of acid rain, it happens more frequently than if humans would not be involved. People not only raised the amount of acid rain that falls, they can also be the ones to bring the amount back down to reasonable levels.
Acid rain is rain polluted by gasses released into the air by the burning of fossil fuels, like coal or oil. It has affected many European countries but the most one out of all of them was Germany. Acid rain has many effects, but none is greater than its impact on lakes, streams, wetlands, and other aquatic environments. Acid rain makes waters acidic, and causes them to absorb the aluminum that makes its way from soil into lakes and streams. “Experts estimate that more than one-half of Germany’s trees have been damaged or killed by acid rain.”
They come down in the form of acid rain, which can lead to various health problems and deaths. Power generation is a significant source of pollutants that can impair the environment, economy, and human health. To begin with, acid rain, the product of such accidents, falls onto the environment affecting it in various ways. Lakes and streams are the most affected by acidification. A survey investigated what effects acidity had on over one-thousand lakes larger than ten acres and in thousands of miles of streams.
Acid rain is polluted rain, snow, or fog. The burning of fossil fuels, base metal smelting, and fuel combustion in vehicles emits sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) (FAQ Acid Rain). These gases enter the atmosphere and transform into sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and nitric acid (HNO3), which then acidify the water vapor. The acidified water vapor will then fall to the earth as acid rain, snow, or fog (Acid Rain and the Aquatic). This is called ìwet depositionî. There is also ìdry depositionî which falls to the ground in particulate form (FAQ Acid Rain).
Acid rain is caused by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The gases are mainly produced by burning fossil fuels like coal or natural gas. In the US, 2/3 of all SO¬2 and 1/4 of NOx are produced by fossil fuel combustion. The other amount is naturally produced by decaying plants, volcanos. Very small amounts of nitrogen oxides are also caused by lightning strikes. Once in the atmosphere, acid rain is separated into two categories: wet deposition and dry deposition. Wet deposition means that the gases dissolve in the condensed water in clouds and raise the number of hydrogen ions in the water drops. Dry deposition means that the gases are brought back to the ground either by dust or smoke from the combustion. The particles stick to buildings, cars or trees. The particles will be washed away by rain water, in which the gases dissolve and the number of hydrogen ions increases again.
Although strong emission control laws are taken to prevent the release of nitrogen oxides and sulfuric dioxide by industrial activities, it is not enough to avoid its harmful impacts on nature, human health, and man-made products. Acid deposition is caused by two types of sources: human and natural sources. Human activities include power plants, factories, car exhausts, and home fires, which contribute about 70% of sulfur dioxide nitrogen oxides in the world. Though human causes are principally responsible for acid deposition, natural sources such as fires, lighting, bacterial decomposition, and volcanic eruptions also enhance acid deposition. For instance, the eruption of Mount St Helens’ released sulfur dioxide as much as a coal-burning power plant did in a year in 1980.
Energy is the capacity for doing work, generating heat, and producing light. We use energy from the time we wake up until the time we go to sleep at night. Without energy we would not be able to perform the daily functions of life. Although energy is useful to us, energy has a down side. One of the topics discussed in class was electromagnetic energy. During the lecture on electromagnetic energy, the concept of the ozone layer and global warming was discussed. We briefly talked about how the ozone layer was disappearing because of the increasing amount of greenhouse gases. These topics of electromagnetic energy and the atmosphere struck me. Therefore, I decided to explore the subjects of the ozone layer, greenhouse effect, and the dangers of global warming.
Acid rain is when chemicals like nitrogen and sulphur-dioxide are released into the atmosphere and react with the water vapour, and acid pours in form of rain. This is very dangerous because it destroys infrastructures and some buildings, and also dissolves the human
An increase in impermeable surfaces e.g. roads & concrete has lead to an increase in run-off (EPA,2003). Acid rain is caused by emissions of nitrogen and sulphur oxides which are supplied by the combustion of fossil fuels in power stations, the use of fertilizers and the exhaust fumes of vehicles (Beig,2004). Acid rain is particularly hard to stop in terms of cutting off the sources because the worlds population is growing and due to this so are the