Acid rain is the phenomenon when different meterological precipitations (e.g. rain, hail, fog, snow) get an acid character because of the acid gas, which was dissolved in the clouds.
The term Acid Rain was first told about 20 years before, when scientists in Sweden and Norway regarded that the Acid Rain can cause a huge ecologic damage in our planet.
However the matter is that by the time they understood the consequences of the acid rain, the problem had already been very serious. Detecting an acid lake is usually really difficult.
A lake can’t turn into an acid lake during a single night, but it needs a period of many years or even a few decades.
As the various exhaust-gases of fossil fuels such as oil and coal, often contain oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, acid rain is produced and contains the above acids.
The acid rain is a term that etymologically refers to acid content of rain only.
However, even pure water, if exposed to air dissolves carbon dioxide (CO2), which is one of the ingredients of Earth's atmosphere, resulting in the formation of carbonic acid (H2CO3), which, as a weak acid, makes the solution acidic and is resulted graphically as: CO2 + H2O → H2CO3
Cause of pollution
The most important gases that cause acid rain are: sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from which is formed nitric acid (HNO3).
These gases mainly come from burning fossil fuels, or volcanic activity, from fires, or the biological activities and even from the melting of acid ice.
We can easily notice that the main cause of pollution is human activities.
The effects
Acid rain causes devastating effects on ecosystems, crops, cultural monuments and property of citizens (e.g. cars).
The implications of this phenomenon forced, in recent years, many governments to lay down laws or to take other measures against this phenomenon and its effects.
The acid rain causes acidification of water in lakes and rivers, as well as, the destruction of trees at great heights above sea level (e.g. red fir-trees, over 650 meters) and of many sensitive forest soils.
Acid rain also destroys natural ecosystems killing directly or indirectly the animals that live in these ecosystems.
It kills directly when it’s falling on them and burns their skin.
It kills them indirectly, when the acid rain falls in the water and the animals drink, in high quantity, acidic water.
The acid rain also destroys domestic systems eroding historical monuments and destroying buildings and vehicles, and so indirectly affects human health.
The adverse effects can be directly related to the acid rain itself, or indirectly, to the effects on acid soil.
Forests in a high average level are especially vulnerable because they often are surrounded by acid mist that is more acidic than rain.
The other plants and human crops are also seriously damaged by acid rain, but fortunately the damage to the plants is reduced due to the use of fertilizers, which help plants to heal wounds, or mixtures of fertilizers with limestone, which neutralizes the acid soil.
However, this method turned to be not only very expensive but also very harmful if applied to natural ecosystems. The acid rain can also cause damage to some certain building materials, particularly in historical monuments.
This happens when the sulphuric acid of the acid rain in a chemical reaction with calcium carbonate in the stones (limestone, sandstone, marble and granite) creates the fragile and friable plaster.
The acid rain also corrodes, oxidizes and makes holes in the metal of the vehicle.
Moreover, acid rain accelerates the decay of building materials and colors.
That means that irreplaceable buildings, statues and sculptures that can be part of the national heritage of a country, are at the mercy of the acid rain.
But even before falling on the ground, the sulphur, the nitrogen oxides, and also their derivatives, cause visible problems and damage human health.
The new theory
There is, however a new theory that was put forward by a scientist in Norway, named Rosenqvist, who couldn’t believe that acid rain only caused harmful effects on lakes.
Why during heavy rains, rivers can be up to fifteen times more acidic than the rain itself? It cannot be only the acid rain that destroys lakes.
The absence of better theory soon made the scientists to accept the theory.
The sulfuric acid is composed of two parts, the two ions.
The hydrogen ion is the one that makes a substance acid. The other ion is sulphate.
When there are more hydrogen ions in a substance, it is more acidic.
When the rain causes river-flats, water passes through soil.
Since the industrial revolution in Great Britain there is a constantly growing amount of sulfur in the soil.
In the rivers there is not enough sulphur to form acid in large quantities. Yet in soil there is a large amount of sulphur to help form the acid.
When sulphur combines with water the pH becomes much lower.
This phenomenon is the most lethal effect of acid rain to water.
The water itself does not contain enough sulphur to kill the population of fish and plants, but by the help of sulphur in the soil it can make it.
Solutions
In order to understand better the causes and effects of acidification and to identify the changes made to the environment, scientists from all states that have similar problems, as well as academic researchers, study the procedure of acidification.
They gather samples of air and water and count the various features, such as pH and chemical composition.
Then they examine the effects to materials which are used by humans, such as marble and bronze. Eventually, scientists are working on understanding the effects of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) - pollutants that cause acid deposition - to human health.
To solve the acid rain problem, people need to understand how acid damages the environment. We have also to understand the changes that must be done in outbreaks causing the problem. The answer to these questions will help those who have the power to make better decisions about how to control air pollution in order to reduce or eliminate acid rain.
There are many ways to solve this problem.
Thus, those who have the power to help must take many steps that ultimately will lead to the desired result.
There are many options for reducing emissions of sulphur dioxide, such as using coal containing less sulphur, rinsing carbon or using filters to remove chemical sulphur dioxide from gases that come out of the factory chimneys.
Also, industrial complexes could alter fuel, and use for example, instead of coal, natural gas, which generates less sulphur dioxide. Some more suggestions could be more efficient to reduce other pollutants such as mercury and carbon dioxide.
Understanding these additional benefits is important for methods that can be used to reduce pollution, methods that are both economic and efficient.
Conclusion
Acid rain is a major problem. It causes the death of our lakes, our rivers and wildlife and also harms people. It also causes other problems, also very serious as the release of aluminum and lead in our water supplies. Unfortunately we suffer because of this. We hope that in the future acid rain will be reduced to the minimum, due to the measures taken.
Iconography
- www.sciencewithmrmilstid.com/category/earth-science/
- http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/oceancolor/locus/mateur_guide_for_air_quality_000.shtml
- http://visual.merriam-webster.com/earth/environment/acid-rain.php
- http://perlhandlerevolver.wordpress.com/tag/current-events/
- http://science.howstuffworks.com/acid-rain1.htm
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