Acid Rain Essay

595 Words3 Pages
sd10/29/11 4th Period Chemistry EC Acid rain is any kind of precipitation with higher levels than usual of nitric and sulfuric acid contained in them. The causes for acid rain can be both natural and man-made, but the effect of acid rain is harmful in many different aspects. Acid rain is caused by chemical reactions, chemicals are released into the air, and they mix with precipitation and come down as rain. This can goHow acid rain starts How acid rain starts on for days, and spread far. Some natural causes for these chemical reactions include erupting volcanoes and rotting vegetation. Eruption of volcanoes can release certain chemicals that react with the rain, and it’s the same case with rotting vegetation. These reactions usually release nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxide. This can be deposited in two ways, dry and wet deposition. Wet deposition is acid rain falling directly into the ground where the area is usually wet in rain, snow, or hail. The cases get very extreme when there are heavy downpours of rain or snow, or when a large deposit of snow melts spreading the harmful chemicals. In dry areas, this is called dry deposition, where the chemicals get deposited in smoke or dust, and falls to the ground, houses, cars and etc. Aquatic animals acid tolerance Aquatic animals acid tolerance The effects of acid rain can be very harmful in many ways. The acidic nature of acid rain falls into rivers and lakes and make them acidic enough to hurt aquatic organisms living in them. The normal acid level for lakes and streams is around 6.5. Fishes and animals that live in the water have some sort of tolerance to the acid in water, but the lower the PH level gets, so does their body weight. At lower than 5 PH, adult fish can start dying and most fish eggs cannot hatch. It can create a disturbance to ecosystems, because different fish have difference tolerance
Open Document