Acid Rain
Science one world essay – Acid Rain Acid rain has been an important global issue for centuries. Although most acid rain is caused by human activities, some acid rain occurs naturally. An example of natural acid rain is erupting volcanos, they give off smoke containing water vapor, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen compounds. The sulphur dioxide and nitrogen compounds cause small amounts of acid rain near the volcano. Pure water is not an acid, but even clean rainwater is slightly acidic. This is because it has carbon dioxide from the air dissolved in it. Rain is only called acid rain if it is more acid than normal. The main causes of acid rain are gases called sulphur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (Nox). These dissolve in the water in the atmosphere to make acids. Bright sunlight speed up the process. This makes the acid rain problem worse. (6) Acid deposition is anything acidic that comes down to the ground out of the air. Dry acid deposition is acid gases and particles. This make up about half the acid landing on the Earth. Acid rain is wet acid deposition, including rain, snow and fog that is more acid than normal. (2)
Cause of acid rain (10)
The history of acid rain caused by human activities began with the industrial Revolution in about 1750. This is when steam power began to be used to drive machinery. This was when large amounts of fossil fuels (coal, petroleum and natural gas) began to be burnt in order to produce energy. The problem of acid rain became gradually worse until 20th century, scientists began to observe widespread environmental damage. Since the problem of acid rain is discovered, changes have been made to prevent further damage to the environment and to undo the existing damage. For example, vehicles exhaust fumes which contain large amounts of nitrogen oxides and some sulphur dioxide. Much has been done to reduce these since 1983 in United States and 1993 in Europe, new cars have been
Cause of acid rain (10)
The history of acid rain caused by human activities began with the industrial Revolution in about 1750. This is when steam power began to be used to drive machinery. This was when large amounts of fossil fuels (coal, petroleum and natural gas) began to be burnt in order to produce energy. The problem of acid rain became gradually worse until 20th century, scientists began to observe widespread environmental damage. Since the problem of acid rain is discovered, changes have been made to prevent further damage to the environment and to undo the existing damage. For example, vehicles exhaust fumes which contain large amounts of nitrogen oxides and some sulphur dioxide. Much has been done to reduce these since 1983 in United States and 1993 in Europe, new cars have been
Bibliography: (books): 1) Morgan, Sally. Acid Rain. New York: Franklin Watts, 1999. Print.