Acid Rain Essays (868 words) - Environmental Chemistry, Free Essays

Acid Rain Essays (868 words) - Environmental Chemistry, Free Essays Acid Rain Acid Rain The damaging effects of acid rain on society is becoming overwhelmed with great amounts of pollution from cars, factories and an large amounts of garbage. The immense amounts of sulphur dioxide put into the air causes high levels of acid in the atmosphere. When this sulphuric acid is absorbed into moisture in the air, then rain can be harmful to the environment. Acid rain is destroying lots of things in our environment. It is hurting lakes, air and thew rest of our ecosystem. Acid rain is killing lakes and decreasing the number of animals in these lakes. Acid rain greatly lowers the amounts of pH in the water. Each decade the pH levels of lakes around Ontario have become ten times more acidic. The high acid levels contained in lakes also causes a decrease in the number of fish living in these lakes. Also the high amounts of acid in the water can lead to fish being deformed. They have messed up and out of shape backbones, flattened heads and strangely curved tails. When there gets to be a lot of acid in the water, then there is barely anything left besides rock bass, pumpkinseed and lake herring. As with sulphur dioxide in rain, mercury is also discharged into the water. There is a direct connection between the mercury rich lakes as there is with those with high acidic levels. This metal becomes concentrated in the blood and tissues of fish. Acid rain causes traumatic effects in natural lakes and rivers. Acid rain causes air quality to deteriorate. As in water, acid rain causes the pH levels in the air to decrease. The sulphur dioxide, which diffuses into the air, mixes with moisture causing the pH levels to drop from the normal level. Again, the normal level is somewhere around seven, yet in some acidic air masses the levels can be as low as three. These lowered pH levels form a photochemical smog in the atmosphere. In the air Anitrogen oxides react with ozone and some hydrocarbons in the presence of sunlight to form photochemical smog, the kind of yellow-grey haze which it literally alive and growing in stagnant air [emailprotected] (Howard protected] (Howard & Perley, 1980, p. 32). Disruption in the life span of trees and plants is also another effect of acid rain. The acid rain corrodes the thin, waxy layer, which coats and protects the leaves letting the acid suffocate the leaves. This can cause an interference in the plants metabolism and photosynthesis may be altered meaning the leaves cannot produce and efficient amount of food which may result in death of the plant. Acid may obtrude fertilization , stunt or kill the growth of seeds and make them sterile. A second generation would be