"Acid Precipitation"

It is now generally recognise that sour deposition is formed through the transformation of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide. Motor vehicle exhaust and combustion from fogey fuel-fired power plants and industries are the producers of large quantities of oxides of nitrogen and sulfur and by-products such(prenominal) as ash. Most of these pollutants are emitted from automobiles and industrial smokestacks (Babich, Davis, & Stotzky, 1980, pp. 6-8).

In 1980, the united States attributed 65 percentage of its acid deposition to sulfuric acid, 30 percent to nitric acid and 5 percent to hydrochloric acid. The military man sulfur dioxide emission amounted to more than 200 tons annually. The maturation use of coal to produce energy is resulting in a further increase of the world's sulfur emissions (Izrael, 1983, pp. 1-10). Only 7 percent of sulfur dioxides in the atmosphere come from natural sources, such as sea spray and volcanoes, about 93 percent come from man-made sources.

As these pollutants move through the atmosphere, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are changed into sulfuric and nitric acids through the ferment of oxidation. The longer sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide remain in the atmosphere, the greater the probability they depart oxidize and become acids. These acids eventually run across their way back to the earth in the form of rain, precipitation,

Babich, H., Davis, D., & Stotzky, G. (1980, May). Acid precipitation. Environment, 6-13.

While the effects of acid deposition on ocean water are thin due to its high alkaline content, the effects on clean water can be devastating. Fresh water ecosystems positioned on granite with a thin c everyplaceing of organic material are particularly susceptible to acidic contamination. Aquatic ecosystems in a large number of lakes in Scandinavia and Canada are already damaged, in some cases irreparably, by the effects of acid deposition. Sweden now has over 5,000 lakes with pH values below 5.0 and 15,000 tipless lakes due to acidity. Studies also channelize that mass mortalities of fish correspond with snowmelt in the spring (Whelpdale, 1983, pp. 48-53).

Today, the greatest problem of acid contamination is developing the political will to curtail pollution. This is not an easy thing to accomplish. The nations that contribute near to the acid rain problem are the heavily- modify nations, who also waste a greater propensity to pursue the more utile and costly technological abatement programs. None of the lesser industrialized nations, who tend to be net importers of acid rain, have resorted to these dearly-won technological strategies; instead, as in the case of Canada, they have espouse dispersion programs for their own industries while calling for more slopped controls abroad.

The increase of acidity in aquatic ecosystems has had a widely range of environmental effects. Most mollusks, sponges, leaches, zooplankton, fish, frogs, and salamanders cannot survive long exposures to a pH value of less than 4.0. Increased acidity in fresh water has led to delayed egg hatching, mortality rate of eggs and larvae, reduced growth rates, accumulation of metals (mercury) in aquatic organisms, reproductive failure in adult species and the mortality of adults. alga and insects, however, are more acid-tolerant and thrive in the absence of fish and amphibians.

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