Acid Rain Essay

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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.
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....

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...uels. Some other forms include nuclear power, hydropower, wind energy, geothermal energy, and solar energy. Nuclear and hydropower are used most widely in the United States, while wind, solar, and geothermal energy are not being used on a massive scale throughout the world. Another possible solution is to have the damaged environments repaired. Acidified lakes, streams, forests, and soils can take years to decades, or even centuries to heal. However, there are some things that people can do to bring back lakes and streams more quickly. Limestone or lime, which is a naturally occurring compound, can be added to acidic lakes to be used as a buffer to lower the acidity. This is not a permit solution to the problem. However, liming allows fish to remain in a lake that has high acid levels. The native population can survive until the waterway has repaired itself.

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