Acid Rain - Essay

Acidity of an ecosystem, measured in pH, is a crucial factor to the survival of a species in an ecosystem. Altering it can have result in dramatically negative effects, in spite of the fact that pH of an ecosystem has been dramatically changed over a relatively short period of time due to various human activities. For example, acid rain is a major environmental problem that is caused by human-made pollution. When fossil fuels are burnt to get energy, pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides get mixed into the rainwater and eventually are evaporated into the atmosphere. These gases enter the atmosphere, and mix with water in the water cycle to form an acidic mixture of water and gases. This water falls in the form of acid rain, which

Acid deposition can come in two forms, dry and wet. Wet deposition is when the acid falls in the form of fog, snow or other precipitation. Dry deposition is found in dry areas where it does not precipitate often. In these areas the chemicals fall as dust or smoke, and stick to whatever they land on. Acid deposition can be result to both natural and manmade sources. Natural sources of acid deposition include electrical storms, volcanoes, and decaying vegetation. Man-made emissions, from power plants that burn fossil fuels are released into the atmosphere as nitrogen oxides (NOx), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). These elements react to oxygen, water, and other gasses in the atmosphere in order to form acidic compounds. These acidic compounds then fall in either a wet or dry form. Acid rain can have a potentially devastating effects on the ecosystem it falls on. When acid rain hits the ground, it faces a natural buffer in the soil often in the form of limestone and calcium carbonate. The water will then travel into either a stream or a lake, where it affects fish. If the fallen rain has a pH at or below 5 undesirable species invade, often in the form of mosses or plankton. The top layer of water becomes too acidic for the inhabitants reproductive cycle to work properly, slowly killing off the

Acid rain is a current issue due to the potential danger it could pose to plant life in the case that it is harmful to plants. In this lab, it was determined whether or not acid water was harmful to red radish plants, and in doing so, established the possible effects of acid rain on plants. It was hypothesized that the acid would take all nutrients from the soil, therefore harming the plants. In this lab, three plants--two experimentals and one control--were monitored after receiving either acid water or tap water. After the experiment was conducted, it was plain to see that the plants were affected negatively by the acid water, as the plants to receive the acid water immediately showed symptoms of nutrient deficiencies, therefore proving the hypothesis. As such, acid rain was proved to be a danger to the environment, as it destroys nutrients in the soil, therefore killing the plants. Without efforts to minimize acid rain, it could potentially destroy the ecosystem.

Acid deposition effects water systems because it lowers the pH in the water, creating adverse effects. More Acidic water will also more readily absorb aluminum leached from soil runoff. The combination of aluminum and acidic water is very harmful to many species. When biomagnification occurs many species will die off resulting in less biodiversity in the water system. Dead or dying trees is a common sight with acid deposition in effect. Acid rain leaches aluminum from the soil, doing so sucking the nutrients from the tree and causing death. At high elevation acidic fog, or clouds can strip the nutrients from the trees foliage’ causing them to lose leaves and die. The trees are also less able to absorb sunlight, and with that will not be able to achieve photosynthesis. As well as rural areas, urban areas also get affected. If buildings are made out of marble or limestone, the stone will begin to peel and chip away over time. This is possible because when the main crust chips away underneath is something composed of gypsum. A mineral that forms from the reaction between calcite, water, and sulfuric acid. This mineral can be slowly eaten away and destroyed by acid

Acid rain is rain that has been made acidic by certain pollutants in the air and has low pH levels that can harm the environment. It is a type of acid deposition that can appear in many forms such as, wet deposition, which can be rain, sleet snow or fog that is more acidic than normal, and dry deposition, where gases and dust particles become acidic. (Epa.gov) Acid deposition in wet and dry forms, falls on buildings, cars and trees and makes lakes acidic, which then leads to the danger of plant and animal life. Dry acid deposition though, can be inhaled by humans, which can then cause health problems. (Epa.gov)

     Acid rain also soaks into ground and dissolves nutrients from the soil. When the plants call upon these nutrients to grow, the absence kills the vegetation. Over a short period of time plants begin

Acid rain has proved to take a huge toll on Ontario’s ecosystem. However, in this section of the textbook, factors such as effects of acid rain, assessing the effects on soil and water, acidity levels and others, contribute to the main topic of acid rain in an ecosystem. To begin, the downpour of acid rain is due to the emissions from human activities that contain different pollutants/invisible gases that can be very harmful to the environment. In other words, substances containing nitrogen and Sulphur are released into the atmosphere from factories, industries, transportation and so on, where it then goes through a chemical transformation (nitric and sulphuric acid) where it either has a dry fallout, or condensation occurs and the acid descends

Well if you already know that acid precipitation breaks down almost everything in it’s way that’s great but if you didn’t all give you a short explanation on what is. Some examples of acid precipitation are rain, sleet, or snow that contains a higher concentration of acid then normal. The things that make acid precipitation is when Air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, also produces these chemical compounds. In conclusion compounds combine with water in the atmosphere to form acids.

Acid rain damages wildlife and their environments. For example, according to Marian Chertow, he says that acid rain damages lakes, rivers, and streams. Therefore, because the water is polluted with more of the wildlife will die from the acids in the water. In this case, this part is important because if you think about it, many people and animals get food from the water. For example, the fish live in the ponds. But if the acid from the acid rain gets into the water. Then the fish will die and that will be less food for animals and humans. This means that the animal life will die down.For instance, according to Marian Chertow he claims, acid rain can damage forests and soil. Therefore, forests and many areas that contribute to soil are places for animals to live. So this means that they will lose

Acid rain is a form of rain that contains nitric and sulfuric acid, with a pH of less than 7.0. Acid rain can weaken the

Acid rain has been a problem dating back to the 1800s, but it was not until the 1960s that attention was finally brought to the forefront of this problem. Acid rain is not just rain, it is also snow, fog, hail, and mist. Rain itself contains acid because it mixes with naturally occurring oxides in the air. According to Fact Sheet, unpolluted rain would have a pH level of between 5 and 6. When the air becomes polluted with nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide the acidity can increase to a pH level of 4 (p. 1). Rain with a pH below 5.6 is called acid rain (Hill & McCreary, p. 208). This low level causes many problems for our environment. Power plants, factories, car exhaust fumes and even natural pollutants all contribute to

Many of the acidic deposits that fall from earth from to the atmosphere can cause the pH of the water to change, making them have a higher acidity than desired. This process was named acid rain from the Scottish chemist, Robert Angus Smith who discovered this in the 19th century (Reed, 2014). Acid rain is commonly known as air pollution today causing many detrimental effects on the environment (Funk & Wagnalls, 2016). Based on the pH of the concentrated rainfall, acid precipitation begins to take place. Acid precipitation begins in the atmosphere since this is where most of the pollutants are being combined to create many of the acids that aid in the acidity of acid rain. Most of the pollutants come from the oxides, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrous oxides (N2O), which later on aid in the acidity of the rain fall (Funk & Wagnalls, 2016). By fully understanding the history and formation of acid rain through inorganic chemistry, scientists can extrapolate the data to help find solutions to decrease the pH concentrations of acid rain.

Acid rain lead to numerous upsetting consequences on the natural environment. Once it combines with the water in surface, it will acidify streams and lakes, eradicating fish and some other marine life. It soaks into waters in ground, initiating the heavy metals to seep out of

refers to the loose surface of the Earth, made from solid rock. To the farmer,

Acid rain is rain that is more acidic than normal. Acid rain is a complicated problem. Caused by air pollution, acid rain's spread and damage involves weather, chemistry, soil, and the life cycles of plants and animals on the land and from acid rain in the water. Scientists have discovered that air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels is the major cause of acid rain.