The Effects of Acids on the Environment
(a). Introduction
Acidic pollutants can be deposited from the atmosphere to the Earth's surface in wet and dry forms. The common term to describe this process is acid deposition. The term acid precipitation is used to specifically describe wet forms of acid pollution that can be found in rain, sleet, snow, fog, and cloud vapor. An acid can be defined as any substance that when dissolved in water dissociates to yield corrosive hydrogen ions. The acidity of substances dissolved in water is commonly measured in terms of pH (defined as the negative logarithm of the concentration of hydrogen ions). According to this measurement scale solutions with pHs less than 7 are described as being acidic, while a pH greater than 7.0 is considered alkaline. Precipitation normally has a pH between 5.0 to 5.6 because of natural atmospheric reactions involving carbon dioxide. Precipitation is considered to be acidic when its pH falls below 5.6 (which is 25 times more acidic than pure water). Some sites in eastern North America have precipitation with pHs as low as 2.3 or about 1000 times more acidic than natural.
Acid deposition is not a recent phenomena. In the 17th century, scientists noted the ill effects that industry and acidic pollution was having on vegetation and people. However, the term acid rain was not coined until two centuries later when Angus Smith published a book called 'Acid Rain' in 1872. In the 1960s, the problems associated with acid deposition became an international problem when fishermen noticed declines in fish numbers and diversity in many lakes throughout North America and Europe.
(b). Acid Deposition Formation
Acid deposition can form as a result of two processes. ...
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...o 4.1 before regulations were put in place. By 1986, the pH of the lake measured 4.7. The reduction in nitrogen oxides is a more difficult problem to deal with because this type of acidic pollution is primarily created from automobile exhaust. A drastic reduction in number of motor vehicles used in eastern Canada over the next few decades seems unlikely. However, emissions from this non-point source could be controlled by regulating the use of specially designed catalytic converters.
In 1991, Canada and the United States established the Air Quality Accord that controls the air pollution that flows across international boundaries. In this agreement, acid deposition causing emissions are permanently capped in both countries (13.3 million tonnes for the U.S. and 3.2 million tonnes of sulphur for Canada) and plans were implemented for the reduction of nitrogen oxides.
The bubbling pool of acid: Acidification most disastrous event in the history of our planet
Further investigation identifies key stakeholders in business, government, and society, and assesses the pros and cons of regulating air pollution. Finally, the paper concludes with limitations of this analysis and recommendations for future action. The purpose of this paper is to present the propositions and oppositions of the CAA in order to provide insight on the government’s role in regulating air pollution. Rationale After the industrial revolution, the United States was producing one-third of the world's output (Berend, pp. 190). The.
As global temperatures and ocean levels rise, the water levels of the Great Lakes continues to fall. As the lakes hit their all time lowest level in global history in 2012, society remains ignorant to the imposing doom that lurks ahead. Since the Great Lakes make up the largest group of fresh water lakes on Earth and are responsible for approximately 21% of the Earth’s fresh water supply, this issue is becoming one of the largest environmental and economical issues our modern world faces. The effects of this issue include destroying animal habitats and a major economic market; shipping. Water levels in the Great Lakes have been dropping for the past fourteen years, but it wasn’t until boats were scraping the bottom of Lake Huron that people began to take notice. This terrible environmental issue has been dubbed a long term cycle of over evaporation and not enough precipitation to replenish the Lakes. Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology for the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit has been monitoring this issue for a decade and has made startling discoveries, such as in 2012, he discovered Lake Michigan and Lake Huron’s water levels only rose four inches after winter, whereas the Lakes have been regularly recorded as gaining a foot of water after the winter season had ended. This amount of water added is not enough to maintain a proper water level during the dry, hot summer seasons that evaporate much water from the Great Lakes. While some scientists say that this is just a cycle that will adjust itself naturally, most experts that have been studying this phenomenon, such as Kompoltwicz, would agree that the issue has gone to far
Scientists have been studying the chemistry of the rain and they've discovered that while the deposition of sulfuric acid has decreased in the last two years, the deposition of nitric acid has increased. This means that the acidity of the rainfall hasn't really changed.
In conclusion, “Acid Rain: Scourge from the Skies” was effective in proving how severe acid rain is and can be. Robert Collins wrote informatively about a notable subject what anyone can comprehend and he used many commendable writing devices which all added to the effectiveness of the essay.
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.
The topic of this paper is acid deposition, also known as acid Rain. Acid rain is precipitation, as rain, snow or sleet containing relatively high concentration of acid forming chemicals. As the pollutants from coal, smoke, chemical manufacturing, and smelting, that have been released into the atmosphere and combine with water vapor, the harmful deposition is created (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/acid+rain). Acid rain affects many things greatly.
Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable. GLRPPR, 12 Dec. 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. .
The outcomes due to acid rain is most obvious in aquatic habitats. As the acidity in lakes increase, the water becomes clearer and the lives of fish and other water animals decrease. The acidity of the water does not just affect species directly, it also causes toxic substances like aluminum to be released into the water from the soil, harming fish and other aquatic animals. Lakes, rivers and marshes each have their own fragile ecosystem with many different species of plants and animals all depending on one another to survive. If a species of fish disappears, the animals which feed on it will gradually disappear too. If the extinct fish used to feed on a particular species of large insect, that insect population will start to grow, this in turn will affect the smaller insects or plankton on which the larger insect
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 industrialization of Canada is severely affecting the nations lakes, streams, and rivers. If something is not done to improve the situation it is going to have some severe environmental problems in its future. The following essay will be looking at the factors that cause pollution, and the effect that pollution has on the environment of Canada. It will also explore some of the methods used to treat and clean-up wastewater, and oil spills.
'Water pollution is any chemical, physical or biological change in the quality of water that has a harmful effect on any living thing that drinks or uses or lives(in) it. ' (Azeem 1). In Canada, most people live in the southern part along with many agricultural and industrial activities causing the worst cases of water pollution. Water pollution is caused by population growth and industrialization, but can be prevented if proper controls are taken into consideration to help reduce the discharge of waste materials. Water pollution has been a huge disadvantaging concern for humans as well as wildlife for over many decades, but can actually be prevented if attempted. Preventing waste materials from being dumped into lakes and rivers, controlling
The Great Lakes provide almost half the water for the residents of Ontario. The Great Lakes also provides water to residents in Thunder Bay, Port Hope, Sault St Marie, Niagara and many parts of The United States to name a few. With 70% of the Earth covered in water only 0.1% of it is clean accessible drinking water. The Great Lakes plays a major role in helping to provide water for people that live near the American/Canadian border. However this resource is being mistreated. Water pollution is a growing problem in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes is being contaminated by pollutants that are released for direct and indirect sources without proper treatment. This is causing the lake to being polluted with harmful chemicals. By identifying the cause we can take initiative to help conserve the Great Lakes and to help restore it to its natural beauty.
...rk together. Efforts such as the Montreal Protocol were largely successful in reducing the use of ozone-destroying chemicals, but many countries chose to not even participate in the Kyoto Protocol or other efforts. It appears that corporations do control many governments today.
pH is the measure of how acidic or basic a substance is. Soil acidity or alkalinity is important because it influences how easily plants can take up nutrients from the soil. pH stands for “potenz Hydrogen” where “potenz” meaning “the potential to be”. The degree of activity of hydrogen ions in solution determines the acidity or alkalinity of the solution. Acidic solutions have a high concentration of hydrogen ions; alkaline solutions have a low concentration.