Acid Rain
is rain that is more acidic than normal. is a complicated problem. Caused by air pollution, 's spread and damage involves weather, chemistry, soil, and the life cycles of plants and animals on the land and from in the water.
Scientists have discovered that air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels is the major cause of . Power plants and factories burn coal and oil. Power plants use that coal and oil to produce the electricity we need to heat and light our homes and to run our electric appliances. We also burn natural gas, coal, and oil to heat our homes.
The smoke and fumes from burning fossil fuels rise into the atmosphere and combine with the moisture in the air to form . The ...
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streams, lakes, and oceans in the hydrologic cycle. In that cycle, water evaporates from the land and sea into the atmosphere. Water in the atmosphere then condenses to form clouds. Clouds release the water back to the earth as rain, snow, or fog. When water droplets form and fall to the earth they pick up particles and chemicals that float in the air. Even clean, unpolluted air has some particles such as dust or pollen. Clean air also contains naturally occurring gases such as carbon dioxide. The interaction between the water droplets and the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and to a lesser extent, from chlorine which is derived from the salt in the sea, gives rain an average pH of about 5.6, making even clean rain slightly acidic. Other natural sources of acids and bases in the atmosphere may lower or raise the pH of unpolluted rain. However, when rain contains pollutants, especially sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, the rain water can become very acidic.
does not ...
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the pollution stays in the air. The longer the pollution is in the air, the greater are the chances that the pollutants will form . In addition, the wind can carry these pollutants for hundreds of miles before they become joined with water droplets to form . For that reason, can also be a problem in areas far from the polluting smokestacks. Dry deposition is usually more abundant near the cities and industrial areas where the pollutants are released.
There are also natural sources of acids such as volcanoes, natural geysers and hot springs. Nature has developed ways of recycling these acids by absorbing and breaking them down. These natural acids contribute to only a small portion of ...
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Acid Rain. (2007, August 2). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Acid-Rain/69006
"Acid Rain." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 2 Aug. 2007. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Acid-Rain/69006>
"Acid Rain." Essayworld.com. August 2, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Acid-Rain/69006.
"Acid Rain." Essayworld.com. August 2, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Acid-Rain/69006.
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