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Acid Rain

Acid rain is a serious problem with disastrous effects. Each day this serious problem

increases, many people believe that this issue is too small to deal with right now this

issue should be met head on and solved before it is too late. In the following paragraphs I

will be discussing the impact has on the wildlife and how our atmosphere is being

destroyed by acid rain.

CAUSES Acid rain is a cancer eating into the face of Eastern Canada and the North

Eastern United States. In Canada, the main sulphuric acid sources are non©ferrous

smelters and power generation. On both sides of the border, cars and trucks are the main

sources for nitric acid(about 40% of the total), while power generating plants and

industrial commercial and residential fuel combustion together contribute most of the

rest. In the air, the sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can be transformed into sulphuric

acid and nitric acid, and air current can send them thousands of kilometres from the

source.When the acids fall to the earth in any form it will have large impact on the

growth or the preservation of certain wildlife.

NO DEFENCE Areas in Ontario mainly southern regions that are near the Great Lakes,

such substances as limestone or other known antacids can neutralize acids entering the

body of water thereby protecting it. However, large areas of Ontario that are near the

Pre©Cambrian Shield, with quartzite or granite based geology and little top soil, there is

not enough buffering capacity to neutralize even small amounts of acid falling on the soil

and the lakes. Therefore over time, the basic environment shifts from an alkaline to a

acidic one. This is why many lakes in the Muskoka, Haliburton, Algonquin, Parry...