Pollution assignment Joe Unwin

Acid Rain

Acid rain is a chemically changed

form of rain that has a
abnormally low pH level.
Normal rain has a pH of
about 5 so for rain to be
lower than that generally
means that it is acid rain.
For a rain to become acidic
it generally has to react with
either sulphur dioxide (SO2)
or nitrogen oxides (NOx) . These two chemicals are by products of
industrial processes , these processes produce SO2 and nitrogen
oxide which are expelled in the form of gas which reacts with the
water vapour in clouds forming acid rain. The sulphur dioxide is
converted into sulphuric acid (H2SO4). The chemical formula for
this is (H2O+SO2-H2SO4) . Nitrogen oxides (NOX), which are
converted into nitric acid. Automobile exhaust accounts for 50% or
more of the nitrogen oxides in polluted air. The acidic nature of the
rain is very damaging to animals and plants as many of them are
not adapted to dealing with the
rise in acidity. For example
Fish gills are quite sensitive to
a shift in the acidity of rain.
The change in the pH level
tends to affect the fresh water
fish more than sea water fish
because of the volume of water
the rain is added to. At pHs
lower than 5 most fish eggs will
not hatch and lower pHs can kill adult fish. As lakes and rivers
become more acidic biodiversity is reduced. Acid rain can also
damage buildings and historic monuments, especially those made
of rocks such as limestone and marble containing large amounts of
 calcium carbonate. Acids in the rain react with the calcium
compounds in the stones to create gypsum, which then flakes off.

Greenhouse effect
The green house affect is how the two
gases carbon dioxide and
methane help to trap heat from
the suns solar radiation there for
keeping the more heat in the
atmosphere than there would be
with out those gases. Levels of
CO2 and Methane are on the rise
because of emitions from cars
and power stations e.g. the rise in
the levels of these gases is
trapping more of the solar radiation in the atmosphere causing the
average temperature to rise. It may not be a small rise but just a
few ‘c can cause big changes in the earth’s environment. Such as
the shrinking of the polar ice caps which causes the sea levels to
rise. The biological affects on habitats are that the climate in which
a specific organism live maybe affected and kill one of the
organisms which in turn will affect all other animals above them in
the food chain.
Sustainable Development
Bacically sustainable development is “is a pattern of resource use that
aims to meet human needs while preserving
the environment so that these needs can
be met not only in the present, but also
for future generations” it is a view
held by many countries that we should
be trying to use fuels that are
renewable and only producing what we
need to live instead of loads of useless
random stuff. One of the main ways we could help this is switch
from burning fosseil fuels and changing them to renewable energy
e.g wind power.

Quote fron Wikipedia and all pictures from wikipedia