Combustion of Fossil Fuels as a source of acid rain

1. Combustion of FossilFuels as a source of acid rain • Group Members: • Daniel Portillo • Ligia Duron • AmzlerGarcia • Marcela Aguilar

2. Combustion of fossil fuels is the main cause of acid precipitation • The burning of Wood and combustion of coal and other fossil fuels release oxides of sulfur and nitrogen thatreactwith wáter in the atmospheretoformsulfuric and nitricacid, respectively. • Theacidseventuallyfall back toearth as acid precipitation. • Acidprecipitation:defined as rain, snow, orfogthat has a phlessthan 5.6 itlowers the ph of acuaticecosystems and affects the soilchemistry of terrestrialecosystems.

3. Acid precipitation has been occurring ever since the industrial revolution, emissions have increase during the past hundred years, mainly as a result of ore ,smelters, and electrical generating plants. • Acid precipitation first brought to public attention in the 1916 when they began to document damaged forests and lakes in Europe and eastern North America. • Clearly it’s a regional or global problem, not a local one.

4. Effects of AcidPrecipitation: • Nitrogenous and sulfurous pollutants from fuel combustion can drift hundreds of kilometers before falling as acid precipitation.  • In terrestrial ecosystems, such as the deciduous forests of New England, the change in soil pH due to acid precipitation causes calcium and other nutrients to leach from the soil. The nutrient deficiencies affect the health of plants and limit their growth.  • Freshwater ecosystems are particularly sensitive to acid precipitation. The lakes in North America and northern Europe that are most readily damaged by acid precipitation are those underlain by granite bedrock

5. Freshwater ecosystems are particularly sensitive to acid precipitation. The lakes in North America and northern Europe that are most readily damaged by acid precipitation are those underlain by granite bedrock.  Such lakes generally have relatively poor buffering capacity because the water is “soft,”  meaning the concentration of bicarbonate is low.

6. Fish populations have declined in thousands of such lakes : • Norway and Sweden, pH of water dropped below 5.0 • Canada newly hatched lake dies when the pH drops below 5.4

7. Improvements:  • Environmental regulations and new industrial technologies have enabled many developed countries, including the United States, to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions during the past 30 years.  • However, ecologists estimate that it will take another 10 to 20 years for these ecosystems to recover, even if sulfur dioxide emissions continue to decrease. 

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