Chemical Reactions: Preventing Acid Rain

When fossil fuels are burned to create electricity pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. They then mix with oxygen and water in the air to form acid rain. These chemicals can travel long distances in the rain before being deposited. (Epa.gov)

Acid rain has not been shown to be harmful to human health, but some of the particles, which can be formed from sulfate, and nitrate ions can affect respiration. They can be transported long distances by winds and inhaled deep into people's lungs. Fine particles can also penetrate indoors. Many scientific studies have identified a relationship between elevated levels of fine particles and increased illness and premature death from heart and lung disorders, such as asthma and bronchitis.

At higher altitudes, sulfur dioxide can undergo a series of chemical reactions affecting the environment. For instance, by reacting with water vapor, sulfur dioxide can create sulfate ions, precursors to sulfuric acid. Besides elevating the risk of acid rain, the ions can also react to form particles that reflect

Acid Rain and acid deposition are pollutants that are very difficult to escape. It can reach every part of the US and many parts of the world. According to the EPA, Acid Rain is a term that tends to be broad. It’s when precipitation contains Acidic particles such as Sulfuric, or Nitric acid. These acidic particles can get carried all over by different means such as rain, wind, and even fog. Once it hits the ground it is then washed away into water systems. Acid Rain is something that many organizations are trying to have some control over due to the health issues it can cause in people and wildlife.

Acid rain is referred to as the mixture of wet and dry deposition from the atmosphere containing higher than normal amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids. Acid rain formation can be a result of both natural sources, such as volcanoes and decaying vegetation or man-made sources through emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. This results in fossil fuel combustion. In the United States, roughly 2/3 of all SO2 and 1/4 of all NOx come from electric power generation that relies on burning fossil fuels, like coal. When these gases react in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and other chemicals, it forms various acidic compounds to form

Burning of fossil fuel in industries and transport sections, industrialization and urbanization have led to increase concentration of gaseous and particulate pollutants in the atmosphere leading to air pollution. The increased used to tall stacks for power plants and industries; atmospheric emissions are being transported regionally and even globally. Rain is one of the essential ingredients for human life. Although rain is naturally acidic, it is being increasingly acidified by pollution from homes, factories, power stations and cars. The term used to describe the problem is "acid rain". Acid rain has become a major environmental concern for several decades, it has broad economic, social and medical implications and has been called unseen plague of industrial age. The major components of acid rain is sulphur dioxide, sulphur trioxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide dissolves in rain. These components deposited as dry and wet depositions. One obvious consequence of acid rain is corrosive effect on exposed stone and metal structures, but there are also many biological that are not obvious. However, like many environmental problems, acid deposition is caused by accumulative actions of millions of individual people. It may not been seem as though acid rain is much as an issue, but it can cause more than you can imagine.

Acid rain is a huge problem to the world. Acid rain is defined as “precipitation, as rain, snow, or sleet, containing relatively high concentrations of acid-forming chemicals, as the pollutants from coal smoke, chemical manufacturing, and smelting, that have been released into the atmosphere and combined with water vapor: harmful to the environment”(Dictionary.com). Acid rain has huge effects on trees and plants, waterways, and soil (epa.gov). Acid rain is an unnatural environmental problem that if not stopped, will continue too damage the world we live in.

The environmental challenge facing society that I have chosen to discuss is Acid Rain. The effects of acid rain were first noticed 150 years ago in Britain, and to this day are still an issue. The pH scale allows us to decide whether a substance is acidic or basic. If the substance has a pH of 7, it is neutral, below seven it is acidic, or above seven it is basic. Precipitation normally has a pH of 5.6, slightly acidic due to the CO2 in the atmosphere mixing with the rainwater to create a weak carbonic acid. Human induced pollution also plays a role in acid rain by releasing harmful gases such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. This is mostly done by the burning of fossil fuels and in industrial processes such as metal production (Middleton,2008). In agriculture, ammonia from nitrogenous fertilisers and manures escapes to the atmosphere by volatilisation (Tennesen, 2010).

Acid Rain is a common term to describe how acid falls from the atmosphere onto the earth. The real term is acid deposition; this term refers to acidic rain, fog, and snow. Acid Rain occurs when the two gases sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) react with each other in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and more chemicals to form many acidic compounds. Scientists measure acid rain by using a scale called a pH scale. What they do is measure the normal rain. Normal rain is slightly acidic because carbon dioxide dissolves into it; it has the pH of 5.5. The effects of acid rain cause acidification of lakes and streams and helps to damage of tress at high elevations and many sensitive forest soils. Also acid rain speeds up the decay of building materials and paints. Including irreplaceable buildings, statues, and sculptures.

enough acid in it, it may be made more acidic by the application of alum, sulfur,

It can react with water, oxygen and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. Air pollution like the sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides can cause respiratory diseases like asthma or chronic bronchitis. It can also harm forests because it seeps into the ground and can dissolve nutrients such as magnesium and calcium, that the trees need to be healthy. (E. (n.d.). Why is Acid Rain Harmful? Retrieved October 30, 2017)

Rain is a basic yet significant component of the ecological system and it appears that it can do no damage to the environment, animals and the buildings around the world. Normal rain cannot do such damage, but acid rain can. Acid rain or acid deposition is the result of atmospheric pollution from acid gases that exert from factories, oil refineries and the burning of fossil fuels. Acid rain has damageable effects on animals, buildings, plants and bodies of water. These ecological effects can be very severe and can have a huge impact on the environment. Acid rain has multiple harmful effects and these effects act as consequences for specific human activities.

Prior to this, several reactions must first occur. Sulfur, which is found in nature in a solid state, must transform into sulfur oxide gas. (Morgan, 1999, p. 35) Sulfur dioxide is often found from industrial emissions and electricity generation. (Jakuboski, 2011) While it can be found in nature, it is not found in nearly as conspicuous amounts as it is from human pollution. In nature it is formed by bonding sulfur oxides with oxygen in the atmosphere, transforming the sulfur oxides into a gaseous state. Sulfur dioxide gases will then oxide to create sulfur trioxide. Finally, sulfur trioxide will chemically bond with moisture in the atmosphere to form sulfuric acid. (Morgan, 1999, p. 34)

The formation of acid rain occurs when particular gasses are dissolved into rainwater which in turn creates acids. When precipitation is caught up in clouds, potent gasses are capable of polluting the rainwater causing it to become extremely acidic. One of the most common acids that is absorbed into the rain is sulfur trioxide. This acid is produced from the vast amount of human activity on our earth. Nitrogen and sulfur are two main airborne elements that cause this dangerous precipitation of acids. The scientific study of acid rain has brought researchers to believe that sixty-five to seventy percent of acid rain formation is caused by sulfur dioxide. Various kinds of nitrogen oxides cause the remaining percentage of acid rain occurrences. With the amount of emissions released into the ozone, acid rain is becoming more and more of a problem for our environment. When these pollutions react with rain, they form a dangerous product that can damage forests and soil. This in turn makes the soil infertile, ruining our land. Power plants and other large industries are releasing a harmful amount of SO2 in the atmosphere. These excess oxides that are interacting with rain have to be cut down in order to start reducing the amount of acid rain fall annually. When this acidic solution falls on areas with sea life and vegetation, it is found to kill fish, larva, insects, plants, and many other organism. When these forms of life are exposed to this low of a PH, it

In order to power the industrial age, humans have burned gigantic amounts of coal to produce any form of power. Coal naturally contains high amounts of sulphur and burning of coal produces huge amounts of heat and the sulphur present in the coal combines with the atmospheric oxygen to produce Sulphur Dioxide. The smoke stacks of a power plant throw out all the waste gases into the atmosphere which contains huge amounts of Sulphur Dioxide. It is said that thermal power plants are the largest contributor of Sulphur Dioxide into the atmosphere. It is estimated that more than half of the total amount of Sulphur Dioxide generated in the atmosphere comes directly from thermal power plants that run on coal.