Acid rain answers

G. J. Heij and J. W. Erisman, Acid Rain Research Do We Have Enough Answers , Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1995. 

Informed debate and decisions on such important matters as the depletion of the ozone layer, acid rain and the quality of waterways all depend on the data provided by analytical chemists. Forensic evidence also often depends on chemical measurements. National and international trade are critically dependent on analytical results. Chemical composition is often the basis for the definition of the nature of goods and tariff classification. In all of these areas not only is it important to get the right answer but it is essential that the user of the results is confident and assured that the data are truly representative of the sample and that the results are defendable, traceable and mutually acceptable by all laboratories. 

The answer is simple. You have been the victim of air pollution traveling . Acid rain is among the problems connected to ah pollution that may appear at a transboundary level. So, your country has suffered the results of the combination of the elevated SO, emissions from a neighboring country with favoring climatic conditions. 

Was this your answer Lakes that have a floor consisting of basic minerals, such as limestone, are more resistant to acid rain because the chemicals of the limestone (mostly calcium carbonate, CaC03) neutralize any incoming acid. 

The topic of acid rain during the 1980s and early 1990s was one of controversy and of incomplete answers in terms of official policy and science—after an expenditure of many millions of dollars. In 1980. the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP) was established and subsequently consumed thousands of scientific research hours and costly field investigations, including the use of numerous helicopter expeditions to northwestern mountain and lake areas of the United States and Canada. Thousands of hours of computer power were consumed. 

Heij, G.J. and J.W. Erisman (1995) (Eds.) Acid rain research Do we have enough answers . Studies in Environmental Science 64. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 502 pp. 

As a source of clean energy, hydrogen is also going to be the permanent answer to another global problem caused by utilization of fossil fuels, such as the greenhouse effect, climate change, acid rains, ozone layer depletion, pollution and oil spills. 

Secondly I think one has to look very carefully at transport phenomena. Several speakers in this Study Week have referred to the effect of the introduction of tall stacks which permit an increased dilution of emissions from power plants. The inclusion of a tall stack at a power plant does not cut the deposition in the vicinity of that stack — and you can use the term vicinity in any way you like — to zero and the deposition at a distance of 500 kilometers to 100%. A very substantial fraction of the deposition associated with emission from a particular source, even with the tall stack, occurs relatively near to that source and again, the question of how near is one, that is extremely difficult to get solid answers for — one simply does not have that kind of information. If you want to take an applied mathematician and send him into shock, you ask him to model the flow from a tall smokestack over a distance of about ten or twenty kilometers — that is just something that is not done. The overall transport phenomenon in acid rain is an extraordinarily complex multi-scale phenomenon. So far as the chemistry is concerned, I think that, too, varies dramatically with the climate, with the season, with the presence of oxidants of various types in the atmosphere, and I fear that there can be no single generalization concerning acid rain and the mitigation of acid deposition worldwide. This is something that has to be handled on a scale which in fact I think will be much smaller. 

Look again at Figure 26-10. As you can see, water cycles through the atmosphere, on Earth s surface, and under the surface. Can atmospheric processes affect the hydrosphere The answer is most definitely yes. Processes that take place in the atmosphere, such as the formation of acid rain, can have a direct impact on the hydrosphere. The interrelatedness of the components of the environment is an important concept to keep in mind as you explore Earth s water, beginning with the vast and mighty seas. 

Why do some lakes become acidic when showered by acid rain, while others remain unaffected How does blood maintain a constant pH in contact with countless cellular acid-base reactions How can a chemist sustain a nearly constant [H30 ] in reactions that consume or produce HsO" or OH The answer in each case depends on the action of a buffer. 

What can be done about acid rain Obviously, eliminating the emissions of the oxides of nitrogen and sulfur would be the answer. This is not easy, however. Some stopgap measures are being taken, such as spraying hydrated lime, Ca(OH)2, into acidified lakes to neutralize at least some of the acid and raise the pH toward 7. 

The functional, multiply realizable chemical properties may occur in higher level chemical explanations. Q Why did the marble antefixes on the roof the Philadelphia Merchants Exchange lose their detail A Because of the acid rain. I take it that this is a perfectly satisfactory explanation. The answer successfully selects one of the contrast classes (chemical) and eliminates the others (mechanical, temperature variations, etc.). Admittedly, the explanation is not specific it does not mention the precise composition of the acid rain, and it leaves out the specific chemical reactions. But this is not necessarily a defect of the explanation in fact, it... 

Refer to Figure 9.2 and answer the question. What implications does this reaction have for the long-term durabdity of marble structures when exposed to acid rain ... 

A further burden for aquatic systems is an acidification of weakly buffered water, mainly by acid rain. The pH value of the water may drop from a nearly neutral value around 7.0 to extreme figures below pH 5.6. Fish populations may answer in different ways, among them changes in metabolic rates, ionic balances or substrates, behavioral modifications, reduced reproductivity and increased mortality As such variations are seen in the metabolism of the objects, calorime-tiy is a suitable tool for corresponding research [136]. 

Commendably evenhanded, but was it true Where were the "large number of studies" and how "large" a share of its own acid rain was the Northeast claimed to produce The answers were not to be found in the pages of Science. What was to be found — in as respected a journal as Science and in much of the press —... 

Strategy. The answer is not 7.00 as some might guess, but rather it is somewhat lower due to the presence of C02 in the atmosphere. The C02 dissolves into the rainwater, creates some carbonic acid (H2C03), and lowers the pH of rain. Let us look at the reactions step by step. First, the C02 dissolves in the water. This is controlled by the KH value, which is known experimentally ... 

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