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What is acid rain?Acid precipitation, also known as acid rain includes acid snow, hail and fog. The reason that is called acid precipitation is because anything that consists of water that falls or settles contains acid but it is more commonly know as acid rain. Acid rain consists of sulphur and nitrogen and when these two are combined with water it basically turns into a more acidic rain.How has acid rain occurred?Acid rain has occurred from pollution that has risen into the environment and reached our cloud hence forming acid rain. When the rain falls it contains acid in it. The sulphur and nitrogen that mainly contribute to the acid rain and these come from us polluting the air which then reaches the clouds. This pollution mainly comes from the burning of fossil fuels which are coal, gas and oil. The pollution also comes from our cars. Where it comes out of the exhausts of our cars it then rises into the atmosphere which then reacts with the water in the clouds to create the acid rain. The demand for electricity and cars means that there is a lot of bad substances that are going into our atmosphere and this is a major contributing factor of acid rain. The difficulty is that just because we may have a lot of air pollution in our country, the pollution tends to drift off in the wind to other parts of the world that may not be so polluted. This means that all parts of the world are affected and not just the areas that have more pollution. The worst areas that cause acid rain are Europe and North America. This is because these are more developed countries and so therefore we have more money to pay for electricity and cars but generally the areas that are affected the worst by acid rain are the tropical forest as well as rivers and lakes. Acid rain can also affect buildings that are made out of certain materials. Acid rain is quickening up the process of erosion which means that our buildings and land will wear away a lot sooner than expected. The acidity in the rain is often measured and is measured using a scale called the pH scale. On the pH scale, 7 is neutral whereas anything from 0 – 6 is acidic and anything from 8 – 14 is alkaline. The worst measurement of acid rain to be made is pH 2. Will acid rain continue? There are measures that are being carried out to try and prevent some of the damage that the acid rain is causing but as long as pollution is there acid rain will continue. Acid rain is mainly a result of air pollution and this is all caused by humans. What is being done to prevent acid rain? There are measures that are being carried out by the government and the Environment Agency to prevent the damage of acid rain but also work it slowly being done to prevent acid rain itself. The government are trying to invest in different ways of producing energy alternatively. These include electric cars, and producing electricity through different forms of methods other than by burning fossil fuels. It is a slow process but the research is currently being done into various alternatives. What can we do to prevent acid rain? Even the simplest of things can be carried out by us to help to try to prevent acid rain from getting worse. We can share driving to work and walk to the local shops rather than drive. We can ask the children to get the school bus into school rather than drive them so that this can reduce the amount of fuel being burnt. Even turning our lights off and electrical appliances off when we are not using them will help because the local power station will be burning less fuel for every less bit of energy we use.What are the possible long term effects from acid rain? The long term effects from the damage of acid rain are that we can loose our tropical rainforests and our wildlife too. Whenever any acid rain is getting into our rivers, streams and lakes, some of the fish may be killed or harmed which means that the birds will be affected because they have no fish to eat. In the extreme cases (which could happen long term) some of breeds of fish andbirds could become extinct purely so that we can have our electricity. The less trees and plants that we have, the less of our carbon dioxide in our pollution can be photosynthesised because of the plants and trees that we will have killed.
Scientists have calculated that volcanoes emit between about 130-230 million tonnes (145-255 million tons) of CO2 into the atmosphere every year (Gerlach, 1999, 1992). This estimate includes both subaerial and submarine volcanoes, about in equal amounts. Emissions of CO2 by human activities, including fossil fuel burning, cement production, and gas flaring, amount to about 22 billion tonnes per year (24 billion tons). Human activities release more than 150 times the amount of CO2 emitted by volcanoes--the equivalent of nearly 17,000 additional volcanoes like Kilauea (Kilauea emits about 13.2 million tonnes/year)!
QuoteScientists have calculated that volcanoes emit between about 130-230 million tonnes (145-255 million tons) of CO2 into the atmosphere every year (Gerlach, 1999, 1992). This estimate includes both subaerial and submarine volcanoes, about in equal amounts. Emissions of CO2 by human activities, including fossil fuel burning, cement production, and gas flaring, amount to about 22 billion tonnes per year (24 billion tons). Human activities release more than 150 times the amount of CO2 emitted by volcanoes--the equivalent of nearly 17,000 additional volcanoes like Kilauea (Kilauea emits about 13.2 million tonnes/year)!Sorry Celtic Grower but you should employ at least a pinch of salt when you listen to climate change deniers...[Source: U.S. Geological Survey]
Quick note, a ship transporting 3000 Volvo's for the American market burns more Hydro-Carbons than the sum of the cars running 20 yrs!
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Topic: Acid rain (Read 4809 times)
