Fossil fuel burning acid rain resulting from

Figure 6.1. Acid rain resulting from the introduction of sulfuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels damages buildings, statues, crops, and electrical equipment in some areas of the world, including parts of the northeastern U.S.

Humanity s major sources of energy are derived from fossil fuels, principally oil, gas, coal, and wood. The major combustion by-products of fossil fuel burning include sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitric oxide (NO2), and partially oxidized hydrocarbons. The process of burning fossil fuels in thermal power plants, factories, homes, and motor vehicles emits enormous amounts of the aforementioned pollutants. The most important environmental concerns resulting from fossil fuel use are global climate change, acid rain, surface ozone, and partic-ulate-Zaerosol-bound toxins. 

Acid rain is the popular term for a very complex environmental problem. Over the past 25 years, evidence has accumulated on changes in aquatic life and soil pH in Scandinavia, Canada, and the northeastern United States. Many believe that these changes are caused by acidic deposition traceable to pollutant acid precursors that result from the burning of fossil fuels. Acid rain is only one component of acidic deposition, a more appropriate description of this phenomenon. Acidic deposition is the combined total of wet and dry deposition, with wet acidic deposition being commonly referred to as acid rain. 

Rain in equilibrium with atmospheric C02, but uncontaminated by industrial emissions, should have a pH of 5.7. However, atmospheric pollution from burning fossil fuels has resulted in acid rain of pH as low as 3.5 (24). If this condition continues for a long time, it may lead to a change in groundwater composition, which may considerably change the migration of plutonium in nature. 

In this section, you learned about some of the risks and benefits resulting from our use of fossil fuels. We obtain gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel, diesel fuel, fertilizers, and plastics from the oil and petroleum industry. Burning fossil fuels, however, produces carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and other pollutants that lead to acid rain. Transporting oil also carries the risk of oil spills. Do the benefits of fossil fuels outweigh the risks Complete these Section Review questions to help you decide. 

Acid rain as a result of the burning of fossil fuels is an enormous environmental problem in sensitive areas. The situation has improved somewhat during recent years as a result of desulphuration of oil and the installation of scrubbers, etc. for removal of SO2, but the handling of NO (to a great extent produced from different transports) is more difficult. Furthermore, NO is produced through incorporation of atmospheric nitrogen during the combustion process. 

We convert fossil fuels into usable energy through combustion or burning. Burning fossil fuels produce air pollution. The resultants of this air pollution include acid rain, which kills plants and forests lung cancer in humans and destmetion of the ozone layer, which protects our planet from the sun s rays. 

Contrary to popular belief, acid rain is not a new phenomenon nor does it result solely from industrial pollution. Natural processes—volcanic eruptions and forest fires, for example—produce and release acid particles into the air, and the burning of foresf areas to clear land in Brazil, Africa, and other countries also contributes to acid rain however, the rise in manufacturing that began with the Industrial Revolution literally dwarfs all other contributions to the problem. The main culprits are emissions of sulfur dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, and nitrogen oxide, formed mostly from internal combustion engine emissions, which is readily transformed into nitrogen dioxide. These mix in the atmosphere to form sulfuric acid and nitric acid. 

An industrial atmosphere is characterized by pollution composed mainly of sulfur compoimds such as sulfur dioxide (SO ), a precursor to acid rain, and nitrogen oxides (NO ), the backbone of smog in modern dties. Sulfur dioxide from burning coal or other fossil fuels is picked up by moisture on dust particles as sulfurous add. This is oxidized by some catalytic process on the dust particles to sulfuric acid, which settles in microscopic droplets and fall as acid rain on exposed surfaces. The result is that contaminants in an industrial atmosphere, plus dew or fog, produce a highly corrosive, wet, acid film on exposed surfaces. 

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