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Sitting in your room late at night, you listen to the gentle
pittter-patter of the rain on your window. Ahh, so soothing and relaxing. Have
you ever really wondered what the rain is really made of? Is that just water or
is it acid slowly streaming down out there? That rain you hear just might be
acid rain, it could change the way you live your life.
The commonly used
terms “acid rain” and “acid precipitation” describe specific forms of a type of
pollution described generally as “acid deposition.” Harmful gases that rise into
the air mix with cloud moisture, sunlight, and oxidants. There they chemically
combine into dilute sulfuric and nitric acids, which fall back to the earth.
This is acid deposition. The major contributing pollutants are sulfur dioxide
and nitrogen oxide (Morgan, 5).
“Acid rain” is basically rainwater with a pH
level lower than 5.6 (Morgan, 3). The term pH means “potential hydrogen”. When a
substance has a pH level of 7, it is completely neutral with the same number of
hydroxyl and hydrogen ions (Pringle, 6). Acidity in the atmosphere can be
changed by many natural things. When a volcano erupts, sulfur dioxide is spewed
out. Droughts produce unusually dry soil conditions allowing dust particles to
be carried upward into the air, neutralizing the acids that may be present at
the time (Pringle, 4). Acid Rain can come in concentrations sometimes more
acidic than lemon juice. These pollutants reach the earth in rain, snow, hail,
sleet, or fog. The rain at the beginning of a shower is usually more acidic than
the rain that follows. Dry acidic particles can also fall from the atmosphere.
Because wind can carry gases and moisture for hundreds of miles, even areas far
away from the source bear the effects of acid deposition (Durham, 10). There are
of course, many things that we as humans do everyday to promote and support the
continuation of acid rain. Not intentionally, of course.
When the fossil
fuel, (i.e. coal) is used, the sulfur in it mixes with Oxygen in the air to form
sulfur dioxide. The sulfur dioxide is eventually turned into acid over a matter
of days. Coal-fired power plants are the single greatest cause of acid rain in
the United States. They account for two-thirds of all sulfur dioxide emissions
in the US (Pringle 16; Morgan 75). In the mid-1980’s, the United states alone
discharged about 26 million tons of sulfur dioxide (Bennet). For decades, the
highest source for sulfur dioxide emissions was the huge Inco, Limited, a copper
and nickel smelter in Sudbury Ontario. Each year the Sudbury plant gave off 1%
of the entire world’s sulfur dioxide emissions, including both natural and human
sources (Morgan, 24).
At a staggering 1,250 ft, "Superstack" is almost as
tall as the Empire State Building. Its main purpose was to act as a giant
chimney to take all toxins higher into the atmosphere so that we humans would
not have to breathe them. The air quality around the smelter was much better and
plant life started growing back. The problem was, the sulfur dioxide was then
blown whichever the winds happened to be going. Most of the time those winds to
the sulfur dioxide across state borders and into Canada (Morgan, 27) Scientists
then used satellite photography to trace the weather patterns back to where the
sulfur dioxide originated. The acid falling back down to earth, whether it is in
dry or wet form has drastic consequences for many.
A rainstorm occurs in a
forest. The summer rains wash the leaves of the branches and fall to the forest
floor below. Some of the water is absorbed into the soil while other water
run-off enters nearby streams, rivers, or lakes. When acid rain is absorbed into
the ground, it slowly poisons the tree by being absorbed through the roots.
Acidic rainwater also dissolves the nutrients and minerals that the plants need
from the soil. When acid rain is frequent, leaves tend to lose their protective
waxy coating. After a leaf loses it’s protective, waxy coating, it becomes more
susceptible to diseases. By damaging the leaves, the plant can not produce
enough food energy for it to remain healthy. Trees no longer grow as fast as
they did before. Leaves and pines needles turn brown and fall off when they are
supposed to be green in color (Phamornsuwana).
Not only plants are effected
by acid rain. Animals are as well. Animals in an aquatic biome suffer more
extreme consequences than that of any other biome. The simplest way to show the
amount of damage would be in the following record/chart. Diary of Death for
aquatic life:
pH 6.5 The growth rate of brook trout slows and lake trout
begin to have trouble reproducing. Clams and snails become scarce. Acid-tolerant
organisms, such as certain rotifers and filamentous green algae, start to
increase.
pH 6 Brook and rainbow trout populations start to decline.
Smallmouth bass and spotted salamanders have trouble reproducing, as do several
kinds of mayflies. Several species of clams and snails are wiped out.
pH 5.8
Tiny crustaceans called copepods die out, and some kinds of crayfish have
trouble re-growing their hard exoskeletons after they molt.
pH 5.5 Rainbow
trout and some smallmouth bass population are becoming extinct. Other trout,
shiners, walleyes pike, and roach fail to reproduce and their numbers drop.
Leeches and mayfly larvae disappear.
pH 5.4 The reproduction of most
crayfish is impaired.
pH 5 All but one species of crayfish are dead. As are
the brook trout, walleyed pike, and bullfrogs. Thick mats of green and
blue-green algae cover the lake bottom. Some insects in crease because few fish
are left to prey on them or because they live on the water surface. These
include water boatmen and water striders.
pH 4.8 The number of leopard frogs
declines, along with populations of rooted underwater pondweeds.
pH 4.5
Mayflies and stoneflies have all died out.
pH 4.3 Pumpkinseed sunfish
population declines and northern pike have completely disappeared.
pH 4.2
The common toad dies out. It lives on land but must lay its eggs in ponds and
lakes.
pH 4 The spring peeper, another amphibian the produces in ponds and
marshes begins to die out. All aquatic plants except those that are acid
tolerant are dead or in decline.
pH 3.5 Virtually all clams, snails, frogs,
fish, and crayfish are missing from these acidic waters.
pH 2.5 Only a few
species of acid-tolerant midges and some algae and fungi are alive.
pH 2 The
water is remarkably clear, but this in not a healthy clarity. The water is
virtually sterile (Bennet).
The waters of tens of thousands of Scandinavian
lakes are now unnaturally clear due to acid rain. Hundreds of lakes in New
York’s Adirondack Mountains are sterile as well. Most lakes and streams have a
pH level between 6 and 8. Some lakes are naturally acidic even without the
effects of acid rain. For example, Little Echo Pond in New York has a pH level
of 4.2. Acid rain can enter a lake or pond by many different methods (Durham,
98). Dry particles can come down out of the atmosphere and settle into a lake or
pond. Precipitation is another common method as well as drainage from a sewer
system. Probably the most drastic method by far would have to be spring acid
shock. When acid snow melts in the spring, the acids in the snow seep into the
ground. Some run-off the ground and into lakes (Phamornsuwana). A sudden dose of
acids can have long-lasting effects on a lake or pond.
Acid rain does not
only damage the natural ecosystems, but also man-made materials and structures.
Marble, limestone, and sandstone can easily be dissolved by acid rain. Metals,
paints, textiles, and ceramic can effortlessly be corroded. Acid rain can
downgrade leather and rubber. Man-made materials slowly deteriorate even when
exposed to unpolluted rain, but acid rain helps speed up the process (Morgan,
27). Acid rain causes carvings and monuments in stones to lose their features.
It is known to dramatically accelerate the deterioration of buildings, including
landmarks such as the Acropolis in Athens, the Taj Mahal in India, and the
Statue of Liberty in New York City (Phamornsuwana). The repairs on building and
monuments can be quite costly. In Westminster, England, up to ten million pounds
was spent necessitated on repairs damaged by acid rain. In 1990, the United
States spent thirty-five billion dollars on paint damage. In 1985, the Cologne
Cathedral cost the Germans approximately twenty million dollars in repairs. The
Roman monuments cost the Romans about two hundred million dollars (Durham, 111).
Most importantly, acid rain can affect the health of a human being. It can
harm us through the atmosphere or through the soil from which our food is grown
and eaten from. These foods that are consumed could cause nerve damage to
children, severe brain damage, or even death (Phamornsuwana). One of the serious
side effects of acid rain on human is a respiratory problem. The sulfur dioxide
and nitrogen oxide emission gives risk to respiratory problems such as dry
coughs, asthma, headaches, eye, nose, and throat irritation (Pringle, 64).
Polluted rainfall is especially harmful for people who suffer from asthma for
people who have hard time breathing. But even healthy people can have their
lungs damaged by acid air pollutants. Acid rain can aggravate a person's ability
to breathe and may increase disease, which could lead to death (Bennet)
In
conclusion, any rain with a pH level lower than 5.6 are classified as acid rain.
Acid rain is made when sulfur dioxides mix with nitrogen oxides to form acids.
The acids then can come back down out of the atmosphere in either a dry or a wet
form. Both of these have proven devastating to both aquatic animals and forests.
Billions of dollars have been spent to correct and try to fix what acid rain had
done to buildings and monuments. Acid rain also has its toll on the health of us
humans. The food you eat could be contaminated with toxins due to acid rain,
you’d never know it either.
Sources:
Bennet, Mark. “Acid
Rain” 2-25-00. Online. Internet. 1-17-96 Available WWW:
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~engenvir/enviroment/air/acid.home.html
Durham, Jack.
Acid Rain: A Student’s First Sourcebook. Diane Publishing Co.: 1994.
Morgan,
Sally. Acid Rain. Franklin Watts, Incorporated 1999.
Phamornsuwana, Sam.
“Effects of Acid Rain” 2-24-00. Online. Internet. 1-5-99 Available WWW:
http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/effects.html
Pringle, Laurence. Rain of
Troubles. Macmillan Publishing Co.: 1988.