Some people think that acid rain can burn skin if it lands on them. This however, does not happen. Acid rain can not burn skin, it still 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. In order to help, people must first understand what acid rain is. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has been helping to protect people and the environment they live in since 1970. They help get information out to the public about events that causes damage to the environment. They do this many ways, one of which they …show more content…
When a motor vehicle runs it produces nitrogen oxide which then mixes with the sulfur dioxide from power plants and other places. Together the two gasses then interact with molecules in the atmosphere. This interaction makes the molecules acidic and from there either falls as a form of wet deposition or dry deposition. Every day when people get into their form of motorized transportation, be it a car, truck, motorcycle, etcetera, they all contribute to the creation of acid deposition. Before humans started pumping these gasses into the air the environment could handle the naturally acidic precipitation, but now thanks to their involvement the precipitation has become too acidic for nature to be able to counteract the acidity. “ Over time, these neutralizing materials can be washed away by acid rain. Damage to crops, trees, lakes, rivers, and animals can result.”(What Causes Acid Rain?) Acid rain can cause damage to many different objects, living or nonliving acid rain can still
“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.
Rotting vegetation and erupting volcanoes release some chemicals that can cause acid rain, but most acid rain falls because of human activities. When humans burn fossil fuels, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are released into the atmosphere. If large amounts of NO2 and SO2 are present in the atmosphere than the pH of rainwater will be significantly lowered. Nitric acid (HN03) can be linked to around 1/4 of the acid rain in the environment. Large amounts of NO gas is produced by high-temperature air combustion that takes place in car engines and power plants....
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) was established in 1972 to oversee air, water, and noise pollution and to pass regulations to control actions that could cause them.
Acid gases are produced when fossil fuels like coal and oil are burned in power stations, factories and in our own homes. Acid rain is rain that has been made acidic by certain pollutants in the air. Most of these acid gases are blown into the sky, and when they mix with the clouds it can cause rain - or snow, sleet, fog, mist or hail - to become more acidic. Acid rain is rain that has been made acidic by certain pollutants in the air. Acid rain occurs when these gases react in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form various acidic compounds. The result is a mild solution of sulfuric acid and nitric acid. When sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released from power plants and other sources, prevailing winds blow these
When a motor vehicle runs, it produces nitrogen oxide which then mixes with the sulfur dioxide from power plants and other places. Together the two gasses then interact with molecules in the atmosphere. This interaction makes the molecules acidic and from there either falls as a form of wet deposition or dry deposition. Every day when people get into their form of motorized transportation they all contribute to the creation of acid deposition. In another article written by the EPA they tell of the causes of acid rain. Before humans started pumping these gasses into the air the environment could handle the naturally acidic precipitation, but now the precipitation has become too acidic for nature to be able to counteract the acidity: “ Over time, these neutralizing materials can be washed away by acid rain. Damage to crops, trees, lakes, rivers, and animals can result.”(What Causes Acid Rain? 1) Acid rain can cause damage to many different objects, living, or nonliving acid rain can still
The most basic overall function of the EPA is of course to prevent and reduce pollution in the environment. Another function of the EPA is to make new technology and perform research to better protect the environment. The EPA also has to enforce their rules and regulations passed by congress. They come up with the ideas of new laws and pass them through congress; if the law is passed by congress then it’s the EPA that has to enforce the new rule. One final function of the EPA that is very important to the protection of the environment is educating the public. Today’s children will be the ones who decide the fate of our health and environment. The general public is aware of what can be done to help and over the years there have been various accomplishments with regard to protecting the environment, such as planting trees, recycling, and other ways of going green. These are some of the basic functions the EPA carries out to ensure that other generations will have a safe
One of the biggest environmental problems that needs dealing with in society today is acid deposition. It is largely caused by humans, and causes much pollution to the environment and harms people and buildings as well. Although there are minimal positive sides to this issue, the negatives far outweigh it and call people around the world to take action to reduce and even solve this problem. Coming in both wet and dry forms, acid deposition consists of acidic pollutants including nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides that have been deposited from the atmosphere to the surface of the earth. There are both wet and dry forms of acid deposition, wet forms being referred to as acid precipitation. Acid precipitation is the result of sulfur and nitrogen oxides reacting in the atmosphere with water vapor. This returns to the earth as acid rain or snow. Dry deposition occurs when these oxides react without water and they settle out of the atmosphere onto the earth. Acid deposition can come from a number of different sources such as smokestacks, trucks and cars. More than 90% of the sulfur in the atmosphere comes from humans. Coal burning, the smelting of metal sulfide ores, and automobile exhaust are major human contributions to sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. Similarly, 95% of the increased nitrogen oxide levels in the atmosphere are a result of the activities of humans. The activity that contributes the most to these elevated levels is the combustion of oil, coal, and gas. Attention was first drawn to acid deposition in the 17th century when the bad effects of industry and acidic pollution on both vegetation and people were noticed. In the 1960s, it became an international problem when fishermen noticed declines in fish numbers and diversity in lakes across North America and Europe. Acid deposition causes many problems such as these worldwide, and is clearly a problem that needs to be properly dealt with.
In some countries acid rain is a big deal. It can harm humans, wildlife, and our natural resources. Most people wont even know when acid rain occurs, it looks feels, and tastes like regular rain. Walking and swimming in acid rain is no more harmful than walking or swimming in clean water. The thing that is harmful about acid rain is the chemicals it produces. Acid rain does sound like something you would hear of in a movie, but, no it is not pure acid, it is just regular rain that has a few chemicals in it. The big concern that scientist and people have about acid rain are, what causes it and how harmful is it?
Liming will not solve the problem of acid rain, to do that we must cut
Acid rain has a harmful impact on the environment which is a serious environmental problem that affects large parts of the United States and Canada. Acid rain is particularly damaging to lakes, streams, forests and the plants and animals that live in these ecosystems. Acid rain is referring to a mixture of wet and dry deposition from the atmosphere containing higher than normal amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids. They are oxidized in the air until they are converted to sulfuric and nitric acids. These acids are then captured by raindrops which fall to the earth as acid precipitation. This process is called deposition. We know this as acid rain, but we can have acidic snow or hail and even acidic dust particles falling from the sky. It can occur in natural resources, such as volcanoes and decaying vegetation, and man-made sources, primarily of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides resulting from fossil fuel combustion.
First off, let’s talk about what exactly an EPA is and how it started. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or sometimes USEPA) is an agency of the U.S. federal government which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. The EPA was proposed by President
Acid rain is relevant in today’s society more than ever because ever since the Industrial Revolution we are burning fuel that contain nitrogen and sulphur compounds. Nature produces some nitrogen dioxide and some sulphur dioxide but that does not compare to how much power stations, motor vehicles and blast furnaces produce. The acid rain is killing off wildlife, corroding buildings and reacting with nutrients in the soil. The acid rain can get into our waterways and poison the water, we can also breathe it in and the acid would irritate our upper respiratory tract. Our environment is degrading and acid rain is a big catalyst.
The majority of people know our water is polluted but what they don’t know is why, and how polluted it is. Acid Rain has been a leading addition to the pollution in our water supply today. Acid Rain comes in the form of rain, snow or fog and is polluted by acid in the atmosphere. In our environment perfect clean water has a pH of 7, acid rain has a pH of 5.5 and below, meaning it is very acidic. The air combines with mainly sulfur and nitrous oxide and makes the water in the air acidic. This acid precipitation then falls onto the environment making the streams and rivers acidic killing the organisms that live in and around these bodies of waters. The rain also kills off trees and other plants at higher elevations. The area that acid rain mostly affects is the North Eastern United States because of the wind currents and because of its soil buffering capacity is low(EPA 1). The buffering capacity is the ability for the land to neutralize acidic compounds. The wind is a major contributor because it carries these acids from different work sites and puts them into the air around the east. One of the leading studies and areas of concern is in upstate New York. One study from the environmental agency in New York said “by 2040, about half the region’s 2,800 lakes and ponds will be too acidic to sustain much life and 100 percent of its rivers and streams will be too acidic to support life during spring snow melts” (Dao 3). Acid Rain has polluted many of the bodies of waters in New York and its surrounding areas. The pollution is contributed from many things although most of the sulfur and nitrous oxide is put into the air from burning fossil fuels. Any person who relies on transportation by a motorized vehicle or a person that relies on power form a company that burns fossil fuels contributes to the pollution. The chemicals that these companies are putting out aren’t affecting them but instead are affecting the east.
Acid deposition is a widespread problem found all over the world. Since the beginning of the 1900s, countries had started to face with environmental problems that are occurred by acid deposition or accumulations of acids and acidic gases in the atmosphere and the surface of Earth. These accumulations can be classified as wet deposition and dry deposition. As wet deposition refers to acid precipitation, which is unusually acidic according to the pH scale (the scale numbered from 0 to 14 to measure acid levels in pH), dry deposition refers to an accumulation of acidic gases and acidic particles. Most of the release of chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by industrial activities and transportation cause acid deposition by forming into sulfuric acid and nitric acid. 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.
As nations continue to develop and populations continue to soar, the demand for energy and food has grown exponentially. Energy and food production, however, produces various types of pollution that have numerous undesirable effects on our environment. A large portion of these pollutants are released into the atmosphere from factories worldwide. When considering all of the consequences of modern day pollution, acid rain is undoubtedly one of the major concerns. Because acid rain is capable of harming a wide range of both living and nonliving things, studying its various effects and the corresponding mechanisms can yield pertinent information, which can be used to combat its effects.