SDIS G9 – Acid rain Essay MYP Chemistry

Name ____________________________________________________________ Date: ______________

1. Read the information below and then answer the questions.

Source: “Effects of Air

Pollution.” Effects of Air
Pollution (Lesson 0048) - TQA
Explorer, 2017,
data.allenai.org/tqa/effects_of
_air_pollution_L_0048/.

The following passage refers to a publication of US Environmental Protection Agency. Read it carefully.

Effects of Acid Rain on Fish and Wildlife

The ecological effects of acid rain are most clearly seen in
aquatic environments, such as streams, lakes, and marshes
where it can be harmful to fish and other wildlife. As it flows
through the soil, acidic rain water can leach aluminium from
soil clay particles and then flow into streams and lakes. The
more acid that is introduced to the ecosystem, the more
aluminium is released.
Some types of plants and animals are able to tolerate acidic
waters and moderate amounts of aluminium. Others,
however, are acid-sensitive and will be lost as the pH
declines. Generally, the young of most species are more
sensitive to environmental conditions than adults. At pH 5,
most fish eggs cannot hatch. At lower pH levels, some adult
fish die. Some acidic lakes have no fish. Even if a species of
fish or animal can tolerate moderately acidic water, the
animals or plants it eats might not. For example, frogs have
a critical pH around 4, but the mayflies they eat are more
sensitive and may not survive pH below 5.5.

Source: “Effects of Acid Rain.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 1

June 2017, www.epa.gov/acidrain/effects-acid-rain.
SDIS G9 – Acid rain Essay MYP Chemistry

This figure illustrates the pH level at which

key organisms may be lost as their
environment becomes more acidic. Not all
fish, shellfish, or the insects that they eat
can tolerate the same amount of acid.

The following passage refers to a publication of Victoria State University. Read it carefully.
SDIS G9 – Acid rain Essay MYP Chemistry

What Is Liming?

"Liming," as the word suggests, is the addition of limestone (calcite), primarily calcium carbonate
(CaCO3), to neutralize acid waters and soils and buffer them from rapid fluctuations in pH. Limestone
typically is applied to lawns, gardens, pastures, and croplands to supply calcium, an essential plant
nutrient, and to decrease soil acidity.

Limestone can also be applied to lakes, ponds, and their surrounding watersheds to protect them from
acidification, to add calcium, and to restore their important ecological, economic, and recreational
values. Adding limestone to maintain a near-neutral pH (pH 7) keeps lake and pond water safe for
aquatic life.

Advantages of Lime

• Inexpensive
• Available
• Non-toxic
• Natural mineral
• Easy to distribute
• Dissolves in water

Why Liming?

Liming is one of the most cost-effective methods of slowing the effects of acidification, restoring acidic
waters, and enhancing the abundance and diversity of aquatic life. It also reduces the toxic effects of
metals, especially aluminium, copper, cadmium, lead, nickel, and zinc, which can threaten fish, other
aquatic life, and human health.

Very acid lakes (i.e., pH below 4) often are devoid of fish, frogs, salamanders, crayfish, insects, and
plankton. Certain sportfish, such as striped bass and salmonids, are sensitive to changes in pH and
prefer lake waters with pH values ranging from 7 to 9. Because very acidic surface waters can have
toxic concentrations of aluminium in solution, aquatic animals may be subjected to a potentially lethal
double dose of poisonous acid and metals.

By neutralizing acid waters and reducing toxic dissolved metals, liming can improve reproduction and
survival of aquatic life and promote healthy, balanced fish populations. The calcium in lime dissolved in
water is absorbed and used by mussels and crayfish to develop their protective shells and by young and
adult fish for scale formation, bone development, and growth.

Does Liming Improve Sport Fisheries?

Liming benefits sport fish populations in many ways. Liming improves overall water quality and fish
health in acidified lakes and ponds. Fish in acidic waters are stressed, have lower resistance to disease,
and grow more slowly to a smaller maximum size than fish in alkaline lakes. High acidity and toxic
metals kill fish eggs and larvae and reduce spawning success. Liming can neutralize acidic waters,
minimize stress, and detoxify heavy metals.

Liming enriches a lake by adding calcium, an important nutrient, and releasing phosphorus, another
important nutrient, from the lake bottom muds. Production within the entire food chain (plankton-
insects-fish) is stimulated by liming, and the increased abundance of natural food items supports sport
SDIS G9 – Acid rain Essay MYP Chemistry
fish growth and reproduction. Enhanced growth of rooted aquatic plants that serve as nursery areas for
young sport fish can result from liming.

What Are the Considerations Before Liming?

Make sure that acidification is the problem before adding lime. Symptoms similar to acidification may
result from other problems. For example, poor fishing or declining numbers of fish may result from
overfishing rather than poor reproduction caused by acid water.

Liming alkaline waters is unnecessary. Test the pH at different times of the day over several weeks to
reliably determine the range of pH values. Generally, if the lake is an acidic or soft-water system with
pH values less than 6.5 (and acid neutralizing capacity less than 50 microequivalents per liter), total
alkalinity levels less than 20 milligrams per liter (mg/L), and total hardness concentrations below 25
mg/L, liming may be beneficial.

How Does Liming Improve Sport Fishing?

Soft water lakes and ponds seldom support abundant fish or plankton populations. Plankton, the basis
of the food chain, often is limited in acidic waters with low alkalinities. Surface waters with low
alkalinities typically are acidic and infertile; few dissolved nutrients are present and most nutrients are
locked onto acidic bottom muds. Limestone neutralizes acidic bottom mud (i.e., increases soil pH) and
promotes the release of phosphorus and other limiting nutrients needed for photosynthesis by green
plants.
Liming surface waters neutralizes acidity and increases pH, alkalinity, and hardness to levels that
encourage plankton and sport fish growth. Liming not only adds calcium, but releases absorbed
elements (phosphorus and carbon) important to the growth and support of aquatic life.

Adding limestone and fertilizer are conventional fisheries management practices for enhancing sport
fish production in ponds, even in those waters that are not impacted by acid. They should not be
applied simultaneously because limestone may precipitate phosphorus and reduce its availability.

What Are the Effects of Liming?

Short-term effects of liming may include increased cloudiness or turbidity and reduced water clarity
resulting from suspension of limestone particles in the water column, and a gradual increase in aquatic
plant production as more phosphorous is released from the bottom muds. This can create an
unpleasant appearance to the water body, and consequently less people using the water body. Lake
and pond property owners and recreational users should be notified of the dates of liming treatments
and informed of these short-term consequences through posters and newsletters.
The effects of liming on fish populations and aquatic life usually are slow and subtle. If an adequate
number of adult spawning fish remain in an acidified lake, natural reproductive success may restore fish
populations. Liming improves the survival of fish eggs and developing embryos, which are particularly
sensitive to acidification. By stimulating the growth of plankton populations, liming provides prey items
for young sport and forage fish.

Liming has been used for over a century to enable acidified and naturally acidic surface waters to
support more productive fisheries. The objectives of protection and restoration of recreational fisheries
can be achieved with a higher degree of certainty and rapidity by liming than by relying solely on
emission controls limiting the release of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NO2). Even when
emission controls are in place, liming achieves short-term fishery improvements until the controls are
effective in reversing acidification processes in surface waters.
SDIS G9 – Acid rain Essay MYP Chemistry
Source: Davis, Michael. “Liming Acidified Lakes and Ponds.” VCE Publications | Virginia Tech, 2009,
pubs.ext.vt.edu/420/420-254/420-254.html.

1. State the industries responsible for the production of acid rain.

2. Describe the effects of low pH on aquatic life.
3. Explain how adding CaCO3 to lakes (liming) address the acidification issue by referring to your understanding of
acids and bases. (Criterion D, strand i)
4. Discuss and evaluate the implications of liming lakes to combat acid rain on the environment or the economy.
(Criterion D, strand ii)

Ensure you use scientific language correctly and effectively throughout the essay. (Criterion D, strand iii)

(A 7/8 and Criterion D (strands i, ii and iii))

Acid rain consists of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and nitric acid (HNO3). There are certain places and vehicles that release
these gases into the air, some of which are the chimneys of factories, the exhaust outlet in the car or houses with
stoves, which release gases into the air. Then these gases turn into rain and fall on the earth's surface as acid rain.
As long as there are factories, exhausts in cars and houses with stoves, acid rain will continue to fall. When this is
the case, the water that animals drink will be acidic and will harm animals.

The acidity of a water with low ph is high, and the water drunk in this place harms people because the balance of
our body is disturbed because the water normally drunk should be close to ph 7 and around 7, because if the water
we drink is acidic, it may affect our stomach and cause pain in our stomach, or it causes pain in our stomach, or it
causes our teeth to corrode or rot, or it damages our teeth, so we should not consume water with low ph. This
applies not only to humans but also to animals that drink water from the river, as well as to anyone who is found in
nature and drinks water, water with low ph I is harmful to everyone, the reason for this is that when the acid is too
much, the acid has the ability to destroy something, for example, our corn is acidic because it makes digestion in
our stomach easier, so when we drink water with low ph. I, we drink acidic water somewhere, so we drink acidic
water somewhere, so this can cause or damage these living things.

Liming method was found for these problems. Liming (CaCO3) is used in places such as lakes, streams, rivers and
rivers where acidic rain damages places such as lakes, rivers and rivers because CaCO3 is basic because its pH is 9,
which tries to neutralise the acidic place. Liming is mostly applied to the soil in gardens or agricultural areas, the
purpose of this is to reduce acidification and to restore the minerals in the soil. Because when acid rain falls on the
soil, it damages the minerals in the soil, in this case, people use liming method and try to reduce acidity.

Acid rain also damages lakes, but also animals, humans and plants. First of all, it is harmful for animals because they
drink the water in the lakes, animals can die in this case and therefore the eco-cycle can be disrupted. This is a
negative effect on the environment. The effects for humans are many, if people are exposed to something acidic, it
can make them asthma through the airway, in short, it makes people sick. This is also reflected in the economy,
people will go to hospitals and doctors to deal with this illness and then they will take medication for it. So, this also
affects people's economy negatively. As for plants, plants cannot grow or bear fruit, which affects both people and
animals. Animals that feed on plants cannot feed and start to die. And this dagames the eco balance. So acid rain
damages the ecosystem and also damages the economy.

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SDIS G9 – Acid rain Essay MYP Chemistry
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