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Air & Air Pollution

Air & Air Pollution. Chapter 12, Section 3: Acid Precipitation Standards: SEV5e. What is acid precipitation?. Pure water has a pH of 7.0. Normal precipitation has pH of 5.6 Due to CO 2 mixing with water vapor to make carbonic acid. Acid precipitation has pH of less than 5.0

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Air & Air Pollution

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  1. Air & Air Pollution Chapter 12, Section 3: Acid Precipitation Standards: SEV5e

  2. What is acid precipitation? • Pure water has a pH of 7.0. • Normal precipitation has pH of 5.6 • Due to CO2 mixing with water vapor to make carbonic acid. • Acid precipitation has pH of less than 5.0 • Can be in the form of rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog

  3. How does acid precipitation form? • SO2 & NOx released when fossil fuels are burned. • SO2 & NOx combine with water vapor in atmosphere to make sulfuric acid & nitric acid. • Can fall out of sky, run along ground, and enter water sources.

  4. How do US acid precipitation levels compare to the world? • Eastern U.S. (Lake Erie & Lake Ontario) has pH of 4.2-4.8 • Most of Europe 4.5-5.1 • Eastern Europe and parts of Scandinavia 4.3-4.5

  5. What factors influence acid precipitation? • High Population- • higher population, more cars, more fossil fuel usage • More industry • More factories putting out SO2 & NOx • Type of rocks in soil can alter pH levels • Marble/Limestone- neutralize pH • Granite- less neutralizing power

  6. How does acid precipitation affect soil and plants? • Acidification- soil pH drops due to acid precipitation • Soil nutrients are dissolved and washed away • Toxic metals (Al) are released from soil particles & taken up by plants • SO2 can clog openings in leaves so they can’t get CO2 to make sugar Adirondack mtns in New York

  7. How does acid precipitation affect aquatic ecosystems? • Fish are adapted to live at specific pH • Acid precipitation makes water too acidic and many aquatic organisms can’t tolerate changes • Aluminum that leaches out of soil can enter water, attach to fish gills, cause suffocation. Frogs can tolerate pH that is more acidic (pH 4.0) than a fish like a bass which can only live in water that is around pH 5.5

  8. Why is acid accumulation worse in the spring? • Acid snow will melt rapidly causing pH of river water to drop rapidly resulting in acid shock. • Causes massive fish kills • Fish & frog may produce fewer eggs which may not hatch • Many eggs that do hatch have birth defects.

  9. How does acid precipitation affect humans? • Toxic metals can be leached out of soil by acid & be taken up by crops, water, fish which can poison humans • Irritate respiratory systems • Less fish = decrease in commercial fishing (people lose jobs) • Dissolves building materials • Marble, limestone easily dissolved • Metals can be tarnished • Costly to repair these things.

  10. Why is acid precipitation a global problem? • Air pollution is released in one location and falls hundreds of miles away. • Air pollution produced in northeastern US falls in southeastern Canada • Created Canada-US Air Quality Agreement (1991) to reduce emissions along border. • China burns mostly coal with few if any pollution laws which affects many nearby Asian countries.

  11. You should be able to… • Explain how acid precipitation forms. • Describe the harmful effects that acid precipitation can have on plants, soil, and aquatic ecosystems. • Describe 3 ways in which acid precipitation can affect humans. • Describe a way in which countries are working together to solve the problems of acid precipitation.

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