Acid Rain On Human Skin

Acid rain: Causes, effects and solutions

A forest in the Czech Republic, decimated by acid rain from a nearby power plant. (Image credit: Getty)

Acid pelting, or acid deposition, is a broad term that includes any course of precipitation that contains acidic components, such as sulfuric acid or nitric acid. The precipitation is not necessarily moisture or liquid; the definition includes dust, gases, rain, snow, fog and hail. The type of acrid rain that contains water is called wet deposition. Acid pelting formed with dust or gases is called dry deposition.

The precipitation is not necessarily moisture or liquid; the definition includes dust, gasses, rain, snow, fog and hail. The type of acid pelting that contains h2o is called wet deposition. Acid rain formed with dust or gasses is called dry deposition.

Causes of acrid rain

The term acrid rain was coined in 1852 by Scottish pharmacist Robert Angus Smith, according to the Purple Club of Chemistry, which calls him the "father of acid rain." Smith decided on the term while examining rainwater chemistry near industrial cities in England and Scotland. He wrote well-nigh his findings in 1872 in the volume "Air and Pelting: The Beginnings of a Chemical Climatology (opens in new tab)."

In the 1950s, scientists in the United States started studying the miracle, and in the 1960s and early 1970s, acid rain became recognized as a regional environmental issue that affected Western Europe and eastern North America.

Though manmade pollutants are currently affecting near acidic atmospheric precipitation, natural disasters can be a factor as well. For example, volcanoes tin can cause acid rain by blasting pollutants into the air. These pollutants tin be carried around the world in jet streams and turned into acid rain far from the volcano. Later an asteroid supposedly wiped out the dinosaurs 65.v meg years ago, sulfur trioxide was blasted into the air. When it hit the air, it turned into sulfuric acrid, generating a downpour of acid pelting.

Even before that, over 4 billion years ago, it is suspected that the air may have had ten,000 times as much carbon dioxide equally today. Geologists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison backed up this theory by studying rocks and publishing the results in a 2008 issue of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Messages. "At [those levels of carbon dioxide], you lot would take had fell acid rain and intense greenhouse [furnishings]. That is a condition that volition dissolve rocks," said written report team member John Valley.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) released into the air by fossil-fuel power plants, vehicles and oil refineries are the biggest cause of acid rain today, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (opens in new tab) (EPA). Two thirds of sulfur dioxide and one 4th of nitrogen oxide found in the temper come from electric power generators.

A chemic reaction happens when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides mix with water, oxygen and other chemicals in the air. They then become sulfuric and nitric acids that mix with precipitation and fall to the ground. Precipitation is considered acidic when its pH level is about 5.2 or beneath. The normal pH of pelting is around v.vi.

Ecology affects of acid rain

Acid pelting affects nearly everything. Plants, soil, copse, buildings and even statues tin can be transformed by the precipitation.

Acrid rain has been found to be very hard on trees. It weakens them past washing abroad the protective film on leaves, and it stunts growth. A United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA (opens in new tab)) study showed that acid rain is particularly hard on copse.

"By providing the only preserved soil in the world collected before the acrid pelting era, the Russians helped our international team track tree growth for the offset time with changes in soil from acid pelting," said Greg Lawrence, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist. "Nosotros've known that acid rain acidifies surface waters, merely this is the starting time fourth dimension we've been able to compare and track tree growth in forests that include soil changes due to acid pelting."

Acrid rain can also change the limerick of soil and bodies of water, making them uninhabitable for local animals and plants. For instance, healthy lakes have a pH of vi.five or college. As acrid rain raises the level of acidity, fish tend to die off. Almost fish species can't survive a h2o pH of below 5. When the pH becomes a 4, the lake is considered dead, according to National Atmospheric Deposition Program (opens in new tab).

It can additionally deteriorate limestone and marble buildings and monuments, similar gravestones.

Solutions and prevention

There are several solutions to stopping man-caused acid rain. Regulating the emissions coming from vehicles and buildings is an of import stride, according to the EPA. This can be washed by restricting the use of fossil fuels and focusing on more renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

Related: How do solar panels work?

Likewise, each person can do their office past reducing their vehicle employ. Using public transportation, walking, riding a bike or carpooling is a good start, according to the EPA. People can besides reduce their use of electricity, which is widely created with

fossil fuels

, or switch to a solar plan. Many electricity companies offering solar packages to their customers that require no installation and low costs.

Acid Rain - Sweden, Vicinity Goteborg, Lake Ovre Bergsjon, A Helicopter Dumps Lime Into A Dying Lake To Neutralize The Acid — A helicopter dumps lime into a lake to neutralize the acid, in the vicinity of Gothenburg, Sweden (Paradigm credit: Getty Images / Universal Images Grouping )

It is likewise possible to prevent acid rain forming, by adding lime deposits to major h2o sources. This method has been used to neutralize the Ph levels in the water, which reduced the acidity, for thousands of years, the LA Times reported (opens in new tab). These so-called "liming" operations take as well been used to restore wildlife. In Wales, a liming operation was conducted in 2003 to restore salmon to the Wye river. The water had go besides acidic for the fish to survive, causing them to disappear from the river xviii years earlier, Young People'south Trust for the Environment (opens in new tab), a U.K. not-profit system, reported.

Boosted resources

Discover cardinal facts near acid rain on Young Peoples Trust for the Environment (opens in new tab), watch this National Geographic video (opens in new tab) about the office of fossil fuels and pollution in creating acrid rain, and learn more than about what the WWF (opens in new tab) is doing to reduce emissions.

Bibliography

Peringe Grennfelt, Anna Engleryd, Martin Forsius, Øystein Hov, Henning Rodhe & Ellis Cowling: Acrid rain and air pollution: l years of progress in environmental scientific discipline and policy (opens in new tab)
Douglas A.Burns, Julian Aherne, David A.Gay, Christopher M.B.Lehmann: Acrid rain and its environmental furnishings: Recent scientific advances (opens in new tab)
Lesley Evans Ogden: Acid Rain: Researchers Addressing Its Lingering Effects (opens in new tab)

Alina Bradford is a contributing author for Live Scientific discipline. Over the past 16 years, Alina has covered everything from Ebola to androids while writing health, science and tech articles for major publications. She has multiple health, safety and lifesaving certifications from Oklahoma State University. Alina's goal in life is to attempt as many experiences every bit possible. To date, she has been a volunteer firewoman, a dispatcher, substitute teacher, artist, janitor, children's volume author, pizza maker, event coordinator and much more than.