Acid Rain Project

Acid Rain Project

By: Amanda Haer

What is Acid Rain?

Acid rain damages the environment by killing off species of aquatic plants and animals such as fish, who are not able to survive in acidic water. Acid rain also affects forest life as it weakens trees natural defenses and makes them more vulnerable to disease. Acid rain also removes nutrients from the soil, making it harder for forest life to survive. Acid rain can also cause deterioration of buildings and monuments, which can crumble and wash away.

Acid rain is rain that is made acidic by pollution in the atmosphere and causes environmental harm or damage.

How does acid rain damage the environment?

Is acid rain a local problem?

How is acid rain formed?

It is the worst in the lower part of Ohio, but in Sandusky, it is a mild problem.

Is it a natural event or is it man-made?

How does acid rain effect plants and animals?

What does soil have to do with the effects of acid rain?

Proposals to the national government

for actions to reduce acid rain

Acid rain is formed when sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides react in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form various acidic compounds. The result of this is a mild solution of sulfuric acid and nitric acid.

Acid rain is linked to both natural and man-made causes, however most public attention is focused on man-made sources of acid rain. This includes burning fuels that contain sulfur and nitrogen compounds such as public utilities, motor vehicles, and chemical plants. Electric power generation is one of the leading causes of sulfur dioxide emissions in the United States.

Build cleaner cars that will help reduce the amount of sulfur and nitrogen gases in the air

Push for fewer coal fired power plants. Coal is one of the dirtiest sources of power

Restore damaged environments by adding Limestone or lime to acidic lakes to “cancel out” the acidity.

Are there any government

interventions in place to reduce acid rain?

Acid rain can affect plants and plant roots, causing them not to grow. Nutrients that are present in the soil are also destroyed by acid rain which causes a decrease in the plant organisms in the area. Aquatic animals that live in lakes and streams begin to die off because of the acidity of the water that they live in. Other animals that depend on these lakes and streams as their source of water are also affected and begin to die.

The government is asking everyone to limit the quantity of emission released into the atmosphere. In 1990 the Congress passed the Clean Air Act Amendments. These amendments state that Power Plants are limited to the amount of sulfur dioxide that is released into the air.

Soils that contain calcium and limestone neutralize the effects of acid rain. If the pH is higher when dissolved in water then it will increase the amount of acid.

What are the three main sources of acid-forming pollutants?

The three main sources of acid-forming pollutants are natural sources, such as volcanoes or decaying vegetation, man-made sources, such as cars that burn fossil fuels, and any factory or power plant that releases these pollutants into the air.