Acid rain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Acid rain is defined as any type of precipitation with a pH that is below 5.0. Normal
rain has a pH which its range is between 4.5 and 5.6 with an average value of 5.0. This
natural acidity is caused by dissolved carbon dioxide dissociating to form weak
carbonic acid.

Acid rain is formed by the oxidation of sulfur, carbon and nitrogen containing
compounds which have both natural and human caused emissions. This oxidation
occurs in both the gas phase and in raindrops ,then produces sulfuric acid, carbonic acid
and nitric acid.

The resulting increased acidity in soil and waterways has proven to be harmful to fish
and vegetation. Acid rain also accelerates weathering in carbonate rocks and accelerates
building weathering. It also contributes to acidic rivers, streams, and damage to trees at
high elevation. Efforts to combat this phenomenon are ongoing.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Origin
• 2 History and trends
• 3 Adverse effects
o 3.1 Effects on lake ecology
o 3.2 Effects of acid rain on soil biology
o 3.3 Other adverse effects
• 4 Prevention Methods
• 5 References

• 6 See also
[edit]

Origin
Volcanic injection

The principal natural phenomena that contribute acid-producing gases to the atmosphere
are emissions from volcanoes and those from biological processes that occur on the
land, in wetlands, and in the oceans. The effects of acidic deposits have been detected in
glacial ice thousands of years old in remote parts of the globe.

The principal cause of acid rain is from human sources, such as industrial and power-
generating plants and vehicles and electricity generation. The gases can be carried
hundreds of miles in the atmosphere before they are converted to acids and deposited.
The origin of acid rain is the presence of SO2 and NOx released in the fuel burning
processes and specially in the industrial areas. As water vapour condenses, it
sweeps the acids formed between these compounds and water (HNO3 and H2SO4).
Cloud particulates act as condensation nuclei onto which water condenses or ice is
formed. This is one of way in which air self-cleans: the so called "rain out" effect.
One alternative mechanism involves sweeping of atmosphere particulates by
falling rain drops or snow that deposit them on the ground. This is called
"washout" effect and is very effective for removing atmospheric particles. Smaller
particles are swept out of the rain way by the wind. On the other hand, the rain-
out effect is the origin of water acidity.

Industrial acid rain is a substantial problem in China, Eastern Europe, Russia and areas
down-wind from them. Acid rain from power plants in the midwest United States has
also harmed the forests of upstate New York and New England. These areas all burn
sulfur-containing coal to generate heat and electricity.

[edit]

History and trends

Though acid rain was discovered in 1852, it wasn't until the late 1960s that scientists
began widely observing and studying the phenomenon. Canadian Harold Harvey was
among the first to research a "dead" lake. Public awareness of acid rain in the U.S
increased in the 1990s after the New York Times promulgated reports from the Hubbard
Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire of the myriad deleterious environmental
effects demonstrated to result from it.

Evidence for an increase in the levels of acid rain comes from analysing layers of
glacial ice. These show a sudden decrease in pH from the start of the industrial
revolution of 6 to 4.5 or 4. Other information has been gathered from studying
organisms known as diatoms which inhabit ponds. Over the years these die and are
deposited in layers of sediment on the bottoms of the ponds. Diatoms thrive in certain
pHs, so the numbers of diatoms found in layers of increasing depth give an indication of
the change in pH over the years.
Since the industrial revolution, emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides to the
atmosphere have increased. Industrial and energy-generating facilities that burn fossil
fuels, primarily coal, are the principal sources of increased sulfur oxides. Occasional pH
readings of well below 2.4 (the acidity of vinegar) have been reported in industrialized
areas. These sources, plus the transportation sector, are the major originators of
increased nitrogen oxides. The problem of acid rain not only has increased with
population and industrial growth, but has become more widespread. The use of tall
smokestacks to reduce local pollution has contributed to the spread of acid rain by
releasing gases into regional atmospheric circulation. Often deposition occurs a
considerable distance from its formation, with mountainous regions tending to receive
the most (simply because of their higher rainfall). An example of this effect is the
frequent low pH of rain which falls in Scandinavia compared to the local emissions.

[edit]

Adverse effects
[edit]

Effects on lake ecology

There is a strong relationship between lower pH values and the loss of populations of
fish in lakes. Below 4.5 virtually no fish survive, whereas levels of 6 or higher promote
healthy populations. Acid in water inhibits the production of enzymes which enable
trout larvae to escape their eggs. It also mobilizes toxic metals such as aluminium in
lakes. Aluminium causes some fish to produce an excess of mucus around their gills,
preventing proper ventilation. Phytoplankton growth is inhibited by high acid levels,
and animals which feed on it suffer.

Many lakes are subject to natural acid runoff from acid soils, and this can be triggered
by particular rainfall patterns that concentrate the acid. An acid lake with newly-dead
fish is not necessarily evidence of severe air-pollution.

[edit]

Effects of acid rain on soil biology

Soil biology can be seriously damaged by acid rain. Some tropical microbes can quickly
consume acids (Rodhe, 2005) but other types of microbe are unable to tolerate low pHs
and are killed. The enzymes of these microbes are denatured (changed in shape so they
no longer function) by the acid.

The hydronium ions of acid rain also mobilize toxins and leache away essential
nutrients.

Forest soils tend to be inhabited by fungi, but acid rain shifts forest soils to be more
bacterially dominated.In order to fix nitrogen many trees rely on fungi in a symbiotic
relationship with their roots. If acidity inhibits the growth of these mycorrhizae
associations this could lead to trees struggling to fix nitrogen without their symbiotic
partners.

[edit]

Other adverse effects

Trees are harmed by acid rain in a variety of ways. The waxy surface of leaves is
broken down and nutrients are lost, making trees more susceptible to frost, fungi, and
insects. Root growth slows and as a result less nutrients are taken up. Toxic ions are
mobilized in the soil, and valuable minerals are leached away or (as in the case of
phosphate) become bound to clay.

The toxic ions released due to acid rain form the greatest threat to humans. Mobilized
copper has been implicated in outbreaks of diarrhea/diarrhoea in young children and it
is thought that water supplies contaminated with aluminium cause Alzheimer's disease.

Acid rain can cause erosion on ancient and valuable statues and has caused considerable
damage.The thickness of embedded SO2 and NO2 layers in marble is a meassure of
the rate at which a material is attacked by this type of pollution. Calculated
constant rates allow the thickness of embedded layers to be calculated over a wide
range of SO2 and NO2 concentrations. Experiments have shown that, even in the
presence of excess atmospheric NO2 over SO2, the amount of CaSO4 produced
excess that of Ca(NO3)2, indicating that SO2 has a stronger weathering effect on
marble relative to NO2.

[edit]

Prevention Methods
In the U.S., many coal-burning power plants use Flue gas desulfurization (FGD) to
remove sulfur-containing gases from their stack gases. An example of FGD is the wet
scrubber which is commonly used in the U.S. and many other countries. A wet scrubber
is basically a reaction tower equipped with a fan that extracts hot smoky stack gases
from a power plant into the tower. Lime or limestone in slurry form is also injected into
the tower to mix with the stack gases and combine with the sulfur dioxide present. The
calcium carbonate of the limestone produces pH-neutral calcium sulfate that is
physically removed from the scrubber. That is, the scrubber turns sulfur pollution into
industrial sulfates.

In some areas the sulfates are sold to chemical companies as gypsum when the purity of
calcium sulfate is high. In others, they are placed in a land-fill.

Some people oppose regulation of power generation, believing that pollution from
power generation is inevitable. However, nuclear reactors generate less than one-
millionth the toxic waste (measured by net biological effect) per watt, when wastes of
both power generation facilities are properly handled. On the other hand, nuclear power
has a well-known potential for catastrophic accidents or nuclear proliferation.
An even more benign regulatory scheme involves emission trading. In this scheme,
every current polluting facility is given an emissions license that becomes part of capital
equipment. Operators can then install pollution control equipment, and sell parts of their
emissions licenses. The main effect of this is to give operators real economic incentives
to install pollution controls. Since public interest groups can retire the licenses by
purchasing them, the net result is a continuously decreasing and more diffused set of
pollution sources. At the same time, no particular operator is ever forced to spend
money without a return of value from commercial sale of assets.

[edit]

References
• Rodhe, H., et. Al. “The Global Distribution of Acidifying Wet Deposition.”
Environmental Science & Technology. v. 36 no. 20 (October 15 2005) p. 4382-
8.

[edit]

See also
• List of environment topics

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain"