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Reducing Acid Rain Through Mining And Smelting Industries

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Tarlin Saini
Ms.McCuaig
SCH3U1-01
24 November 2014
Reducing Acid Rain through Mining and Smelting Industries http://miningandacidrain.weebly.com What is Acid Rain?
Acid rain is rain that has been made acidic by certain pollutants in the air and has low pH levels that can harm the environment. It is a type of acid deposition that can appear in many forms such as, wet deposition, which can be rain, sleet snow or fog that is more acidic than normal, and dry deposition, where gases and dust particles become acidic. (Epa.gov) Acid deposition in wet and dry forms, falls on buildings, cars and trees and makes lakes acidic, which then leads to the danger of plant and animal life. Dry acid deposition though, can be inhaled by humans, which can then cause health problems. (Epa.gov)
How is Acid Rain Created?
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)
There are several different pollutants that can lead to acid rain such as SO2, SO3, NO2, and CO2. These pollutants react with water to create acids as shown below.
Sulfur dioxide + water  sulfurous acid
Sulfur trioxide + water  sulfuric acid
Nitrogen dioxide + water  nitric acid + nitrous acid
Carbon dioxide + water  carbonic acid

Although Mining does not directly create acid rain, it does lead

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