Acid Rain and Geology
Acid rain is a term that refers to a mixture of dry and wet deposited materials that falls in precipitation from the atmosphere, containing "higher then normal amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids" (Environmental Protection Agency). Some of the "precursors, or chemical forerunners" of acid rain are from natural sources like volcanoes and rotting vegetation; other precursors are from man-made sources like nitrogen oxides (NOX) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). The man-made emissions result for the most part from the burning of fossil fuels, like coal and oil for electrical production, according to the EPA.
et Deposition: In the United States, about two-thirds of all the SO2 and one-quarter of all the NOX results from the burning of coal and oil. Acid rain is created when these gases -- released through the smokestacks of the coal and oil-fired plants -- mix with water and oxygen and other chemical typically…...
mlaWorks Cited
Environmental Protection Agency. (2010). What is Acid Rain? / Effects of Acid Rain.
Retrieved March 7, 2011, from http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/what/index.html .
Kang, Hojeong, and Lee, Dowon. (2005). Inhibition of Extracellular Enzyme Activities in a Forest Soil by Additions of Inorganic Nitrogen. Communications in Soil Science and Plant
Analysis. Vol. 36, 2129-2135.
Acid ain
Should Acid ain Be Made a Political Issue?
After studying several researches on how acid rain can cause economic losses, I chose a thesis proposal. I collected information from researches conducted in different countries and analyzed data using Microsoft Excel.
Acid rain is a problem that does not respect political barriers, thus, making it a global issue.
The world's population is currently around 7 billion and is still dramatically increasing. This increase is accompanied with an increase in land usage, deforestation and industrialization, contributing to environmental pollution. A major environmental hazard is sulphur dioxide. Urban areas are major contributors to this particularly harmful pollutant. It is released as a result of poorly controlled combustion, which maybe from factories, coal power plants or even from domestic use of sulphur containing fuel. Volcanoes are the natural cause of increased sulphur content in the environment. (Acid ain, 2011)
Sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions and its…...
mlaREFERENCES
Acid Rain. (2011). In Encyclopedia. Today's Science. Retrieved from Facts On File, Inc. database.
Shah, J., Streets, D., Li, J., Pu, Y., Nagpal, T., Johnson, T., & #8230;Green C. (2000). Integrated analysis for acid rain in Asia: Policy implication and results of rain-Asia model. Annual Review of the Energy & the Environment, 25(1), 339-375. Retrieved from EBSCO database.
Smith, S.J., Aardene, J.V., & Andres, R.J. (2010). Anthropogenic sulphur dioxide emissions: 1850-2005. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 11, 1101-1116. Retrieved from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.org/11/1101/2011/acp-11-1101-2011.pdf
State Environmental Protection Administration. (2002, March 20). China to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions. People's Daily Online, Retrieved from http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200203/20/eng20020320_92414.shtml
Materials and Methods
Because sulfur dioxide is converted into sulfuric acid, which bonds with water vapor in the atmosphere and results in acid rain, one of the best ways to look for the effects of that acid rain is to look to see how sulfuric acid directly affects specific items. That can be done by placing a few drops of sulfuric acid onto the selected items and waiting a few days to see what the results are. Being careful is key, because sulfuric acid is very dangerous. A well-ventilated hood and protective gloves should be used.
The other materials needed for this experiment are:
100 ml sulfuric acid (H2SO4), concentrated
Large Petri dishes with covers nylon stocking aluminum foil leaf, a flower petal, and a stick
esults
The leaf, the stick, and the flower petal all had the same result. They were all darkened and shriveled a few days after the sulfuric acid was put on…...
mlaReferences
Davis, Mackenzie L. And Cornwell, David a. (1991). Introduction to Environmental Engineering 2 nded. McGraw-Hill, Inc.: New York.
De Nevers, Noel. (1995). Air Pollution Control Engineering. McGraw-Hill, Inc.: New York.
It was discovered that a nearby factory was releasing sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. The resulting acid rain had deposited on the surface of the marble (CaCO3) converting it into the dull gypsum (CaSO4.1/2 H2O). Calcium sulfate also has twice the molar volume of calcium carbonate. (Lambert, 1997) This expansion had resulted in added stress resulting in cracks. The relevant chemical reaction is:
CaCO3 + H2SO4
CaSO4 + H2CO3
Many such instances can be cited as the effects of acid rain. Acidity in rain results in greater incidences of rust. This is because the acidity results in the formation of ferrous ions, which in the presence of water results in Ferric Hydroxide, which is rust.
Fe(s) + 2O2(g) + 8 H+ (aq)
Fe2+ (aq) + 4H2O (l)
Fe2+ + (aq) + O2(g) + 4H2O (l)
Fe2O3(s) + 8H+ + (aq)
Despite some research, there is no direct evidence on the health of human beings through acid rain.…...
mlaBibliography
AcidRain. Acid Raid. 2008. Environmental Protection Agency. Available:
2008.http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/.April28
CFC. Cfc Destruction Abstracts. 2008. Environmental Protection Agency. Available:
April29 2008.http://www.epa.gov/appcdwww/aptb/abstracts/cfc.htm .
Acid Rain Be Made a Political Issue?
Acid rain spares nothing. Its effects are vast. It affects plants by destroying its roots, causing stunting or even death. Increased acidity in the soil, resulting from acidic rain, causes destruction of its nutrients which dissolve or decay in the acidic medium. Saprophytic microorganisms present are also destroyed. Acid rain falling on leaves dissolves its waxy layer. Damage to this layer makes the plant more prone to diseases and vulnerable to the effects of drying. Germination of seeds and reproduction are also inhibited. Eventually, the plants become weak and are unable to stand adverse climate, such as strong winds and rain. Ultimately, there is wide spread deforestation. ("Effects of Acid," 2007)
(Environmental Statistics, 2007)
The effects of acid rain, causing deforestation, have been observed in many places. Examples include eastside of Penn's state in Norway, trees in Scandinavia, southeastern Canada and northeastern United States. In…...
mlaHowever, against such a backdrop of apparently serious action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which imply widespread changes in energy use, conventional energy still receives the overwhelming share of government support worldwide. Over the last 20 years, some $300 billion in subsidies spent annually on nuclear- and fossil-based power has eclipsed by four times the amount spent on renewable (World Council for Renewable Energy, 2002, p. 8). Moreover, with the Bush Administration's rejection of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001, the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, the U.S., did not undertake formal commitments for emissions reduction, signaling instead its support for voluntary measures to decrease the greenhouse gas "intensity" of certain industrial sectors (White House, 2005a). The federal government also failed to enact a renewable portfolio standard requiring growing shares of energy over time to be generated from renewable sources, even though such bills were submitted repeatedly to the U.S. Congress (Byrne, Hughes, Rickerson, & Kurdgelashvili, 2007).
More recently, the Obama Administration has taken steps to mandate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at U.S. power plants, factories, and refineries. Approved by the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in May2009, proposed legislation -- if ultimately enacted and signed into law -- would target a 17% cut in emissions by 2020 from 2005, and an 83% cut by 2050, supported by a cap-and-trade system (Committee on Energy & Commerce, 2009). Meanwhile, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which became law in February 2009, set aside some $60 billion for clean and alternative energy (White House, 2009a).
With such measures representing relatively recent steps toward energy sustainability at the national level, the last decade has witnessed a growing trend among many U.S. states and cities to fill the policy vacuum left by the federal government (Byrne et al., 2007). As of June 2006, some 29 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia had
From the point-of-view of the variation and flexibility of the species such cultivated woody crops rank as no more than cornfields. While the tree farms are conveniently be stretched on the private lands, national forests those are considered priceless reservoirs of most of the biological diversity of the nation cannot expand so easily. The commercial logging is considered as the greatest danger for survival of the national forest system. The timber sales are growingly concealed beneath the post fire recovery and fire prevention missions, forest health initiatives and restoration programs. (Endangered Forests: Endangered Freedoms)
Wetlands disappearing
Declining wetlands and reservoir construction are having spectacular influences on a global scale. (the Importance of Wetlands and the Impacts of eservoir Development) the data of USF & WS reveals that the United States added 2.3 million acres in ponds and inland mudflats during the period of mid 1950s and mid1970s. The country added about…...
mlaReferences
Acid Rain -- a Contemporary World Problem. Retrieved at Accessed on 3 February, 2005http://www.geocities.com/narilily/acidrain.html.
Acid Rain: Do you need to start wearing a rain hat? Retrieved at Accessed on 3 February, 2005http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/acidrain.html .
Barney, Gerald O. The Whole World in Our Hands. SF Chronicle. 31 December, 2000. Retrieved at Accessed on 3 February, 2005http://www.mindfully.org/Sustainability/in-Our-Hands.htm.
Bryant, Peter J. Biodiversity and Conservation: A Hypertext Book. Retrieved at Accessed on 3 February, 2005http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/bio65/lec05/b65lec05.htm.
living things are characterized by the following seven characteristics namely mobility, respiration, excretion, sensitivity or response to external stimulus, growth, feeding, and reproduction. Though there may be variations between animal and plant kingdom (ex, plants take in carbon dioxide and prepare their own food), these characteristics are commonly observed among all living things.
iology is a very broad field that encompasses the study of characteristics of living things. It includes botany, zoology and all other sub-disciplines that range from microbiology to evolution and ecology.
Evolution is the branch of biology that deals with the study of natural development of living organisms and the changes in them over time. Evolution refers to the heritable changes that occur in a population over a period of time. All the diversity that is observed currently in plant and animal kingdom can be ascribed to evolution over a long period of time.
Atoms are the smallest, fundamental…...
mlaBibliography
1) Mark Rothery, "Cells," Accessed on Sep 20th 2005, Available from http://www.mrothery.co.uk/cells/cellnotes.htm
It is therefore quite important to evaluate each experience on its own merits, as well as to how well each experience is integrated into the overall picture. An evaluation form has been developed for each participant as well as the parents of that participant. The evaluation form will be handed out at the end of each of the camps (whether the attendee stayed for a one-week or the full three-week course will be noted) for completion and return to the directors of the camp.
After the evaluation forms have been returned, the responses contained therein will be analyzed and broken down into categories pertaining to each camp experience and how it (they) were perceived by the campers. Follow-up questionnaires can be sent to each participant on a bi-yearly basis in order to gauge what type of long-term effects the camps continue to have on the participants.
The project is proposed to…...
Toulmin Model argument in response to one of the following prompts:
• What specific action(s) should Christians take regarding the environment and its preservation or restoration?
Active in 15 countries, "Target Earth" is a group of individuals, churches, college fellowship and various ministries that are Christian protectors for everything that God created. The group feeds the hungry, saves endangered animals, rebuilds forests, and serves as active voice for environmental concerns. The groups mission is "erving the Earth, erving the Poor," which defines their connection of Christianity to environmentalism as they see it (Target Earth.com).
The news media is full of warnings that deal with environmental issues of one kind or the other be it global warming, endangered species, extinction of the rain forest, pollution, nuclear accidents, and so forth. The Christian community seems to apply less attention to these issues than they do to others. It may be because we regard these…...
mlaSources
Beisner, E. Calvin. (1990) Prospects for Growth: a Biblical View of Population, Resources, and the Future. Westchester, Ill.: Crossway Books,.
DeWitt, Calvin B., Ed. (1991) The Environment and the Christian: What Can We Learn from the New Testament? Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House,.
Yahoo Voices, Simple Steps to Help the Environment
Social Ecology of Health Promotion
Module 05 Question 01: explain the rationale behind the federal government's approach to regulatory containments in food.
The federal government's approach in relation to the regulation of the containments in food, aims at protecting the consumers on food insecurity through elimination of food pathogens. It is the role of the government to enhance the health system and conditions of its citizens through adoption and implementation of various rules and regulations in relation to the containments in food. The food supply of the United States integrates multi-faceted production system and delivery components. Some of the critical or essential components of this system include production, processing, preparing, packaging, labelling, distribution, and consumption of the food components (Fortin, 2011).
There is a risk in relation to the concept of each stage of the food supply system in the context of the United States. This makes it ideal for the Federal government…...
mlaReferences
Marco-Barba, J., Mesquita-Joanes, F., & Miracle, M. (2013). Ostracod palaeolimnological analysis reveals drastic historical changes in salinity, eutrophication and biodiversity loss in a coastal Mediterranean lake. Holocene, 23(4), 556-567.
Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Y., Liancourt, P., Gross, N., & Straile, D. (2012). Indirect facilitation promotes macrophyte survival and growth in freshwater ecosystems threatened by eutrophication. Journal Of Ecology, 100(2), 530-538.
Riplett, L., Engstrom, D., & Conley, D. (2012). Changes in amorphous silica sequestration with eutrophication of riverine impoundments. Biogeochemistry, 108(1-3), 413-427.
Gareca, E.E., Vandelook, F., Fernandez, M., Hermy, M., & Honnay, O. (2012). Seed
heavily-increasing industrialized world, sulfur oxide emissions and other oxidizing gases have become problematic within the planet's atmosphere. These emissions cause acid rain, which has become detrimental to both the atmosphere and the Earth's environment over the years. While there have been numerous instances in which the United States and Europe have attempted to curb industrial emissions of sulfur oxides and nitrogen dioxides, the environment's return to a less acidic pH will take longer than expected. Acid precipitation has hit the lakes and streams the hardest, and even with the decrease of emissions, the acidity of said lakes and streams, for the most part, have remained the same.
Cause of Acid Rain
Acid rain, or "acid precipitation" as most scientists call it, is the "common name for [a] form of air pollution," which harms the environment ("Acid Rain"). This phenomenon is usually caused by a displacement of pollutants into the atmosphere, namely…...
mlaIn the West, the problem of acid rain has been taken seriously since the 1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Sweden first presented the scientific data documenting the issues (Crittenden & White, 2010; Shah, Nagpal, Johnson, et al., 2000). Further investigation continued throughout the next two decades and led to serious efforts to reduce SO2 and NOx emissions. However, Asia faces significant ecological and human health issues attributable to those emissions as a result of rapidly increasing industrialization and fossil fuel consumption (Matthews, Hendrickson, and Weber, 2008; Shah, Nagpal, Johnson, et al., 2000)
Because of the tremendous economic growth in many Asian nations, energy use has increased proportionately but without any significant effort to reduce environmental impact. According to current calculations, the demand for power in Asia will double approximately every decade in the near future. Fossil fuel consumption accounts for approximately 80% of all commercial energy in Asia, primarily in the form of coal. Current projections are that coal burning will continue to increase as much as 7% annually (Shah, Nagpal, Johnson, et al., 2000)
On one hand, environmental monitoring in Asia has not been conducted in the manner in which it has in the
At the time, the industry sought to examine both oil pollution in general and ocean dumping as well as land-based sources of ocean pollution. According to ang, "More significant was the rapid technological development in the design of large-sized oil tankers which required constant rule changes. By 1973 it was evident that the 1954 convention provisions were inadequate or outdated, and by then the likelihood of the 1954 convention coming into force was rather doubtful" (334).
The new protocol ultimately entered into force in January 1978. The 1973 version of MARPOL was comprised of 20 articles concerning general obligations under the convention (e.g., prohibition of violation of requirements, rules for ship inspection, enforcement, reporting on incidents involving harmful substances, and most importantly, five technical annexes or regulations on 1) oil pollution; 2) control of noxious liquid substances in bulk; 3) harmful substances carried by sea in package forms or in…...
mlaWorks Cited
Advice on Impact of Reduction in Sulfur Content of Marine Fuels Marketed in the EU." (2002, January 1). European Commission Study C.1/01/2002.
Brewer, Stuart. (2005, March 15). "Marpol Annex VI sets sulphur test." DNV Germany. [Online]. Available: http://www.dnv.de/Publikationen/classification_news/class_news_1_2005/MarpolAnnexVIsetssulphurtest.asp.
Chasek, Pamela S. Earth Negotiations: Analyzing Thirty Years of Environmental Diplomacy. New York: United Nations University Press, 2001.
Consultation Paper regarding the European Commission's proposal for a Directive amending Directive 1999/32/EC as regards the sulphur content of marine fuels. (2003, July). European Parliament.
Environmental Ethics
US Government and Environmental Ethics
The United States government has had a long history with the environment, beginning with the very beginning of the settlement of the Pilgrims, through the industrialization era, forming the beginning principles of having national parks, and to today with the onset of climate change and the environmental hazards of the 21st century. (National Park Service, 2012) Compared to other countries, the U.S. has had a more favorable view towards the use of the environment for business matters, often leaving entire communities scarred by the unprotected use of machinery and pollution to retrieve coal minerals, build six lane highways through forests, and even building massive subdivisions of buildings so close together that they represent risks of fire and natural disaster. There are several government agencies that have been created through the years to govern the vast territories that have been preserved, but the amount of funding…...
mlaWork Cited
American Farmland Trust. (2012). "History of the Farm Bill." Retrieved from, http://www.farmland.org/programs/farm-bill/history/usfarmsubsidies.asp .
The Encyclopedia of Earth. (2008). "Roosevelt, Franklin D. And his Environmental Policies." Retrieved from, http://www.eoearth.org/article/Roosevelt,_Franklin_D ..
The Environmental Protection Agency. (2012). "About Us." Retrieved from, http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/ .
BBC News. (2011). "What is the Kyoto Treaty?." Retrieved from, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2233897.stm .
" And following that experience the class can discuss what acid rain does to the ecosystem and the teacher can show a video of a forest devastated by acid rain, or just photos of depleted forests and dead fish floating on a stream or lake (waters that have been polluted by acid rain).
About this time, students are asked: "here does the acid rain come from?" Let them guess, and talk about it. Then the teacher shows photos of smokestacks belching out clouds of brown sooty looking pollution and explain that once in the atmosphere, the pollutants (they don't need to know the science of precisely what chemicals bond with condensation but they could certainly relate to dirty polluted particles joining with raindrops) return to earth as acid rain. And as an additional part of this curriculum, students should be shown the various products that are produced in the factories that…...
mlaWorks Cited
Chappell, Tracey. (2008). Getting serious about inclusive curriculum for special education.
Primary & Middle Years Educator, 6(2), five pages.
EdChange. (2008). Curriculum Reform: Steps Toward Multicultural Curriculum
Transformation. Retrieved June 21, 2009, from http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/curriculum/steps.html .
CONSEQUENCES OF OU ENEGY USEConsequences of our Energy Use1) elationship between Energy Use and Carbon FootprintEnergy use is generally related to carbon footprint given that carbon dioxide emissions account for the total anthropogenic emissions. This is more so the case given that as energy is consumed, carbon dioxide is also released. In essence, increased consumption of energy leads to increased emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Chontanawat, 2020).2) Carbon footprint in terms of Anthropogenic Source of Carbon Dioxide Emitted to make LaptopsDespite the fact that laptops do not consume a lot of electricity, they still contribute towards carbon dioxide emissions especially when we think in terms of their building and shipping. With regard to laptop building, Circular Computing (2021) estimates that manufacturing of laptop produces approximately 75 to 85 percent of the entire footprint. In particular, most of the said emissions are produced from the materials used in…...
mlaReferencesChontanawat, J. (2019). Relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emission and economic growth in ASEAN: Cointegration and causality model. Energy reports, 6(1), 660-665.Circular Computing (2021). What is the Carbon Footprint of a Laptop? B. L. (1990). The Nuclear Energy Option. http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/chapter9.html EIA (2021). U. S. Energy Facts Explained. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/ EPA (2022). Global Greenhouse Emissions Data. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data#Trendshttps://circularcomputing.com/news/carbon-footprint-laptop/#:~:text=Carbon%20footprint%20during%20production%20of%20a%20laptop&text=Build%20%E2%80%93%20The%20manufacture%20of%20a,the%20motherboard%2C%20SSD%20and%20display .Cohen,
I. Introduction
A. Define fossil fuels and discuss their geological origins
B. State the thesis statement: The impacts of fossil fuel consumption on environmental and societal well-being are multifaceted and profound.
II. Environmental Impacts of Fossil Fuel Consumption
A. Air pollution:
1. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global warming
2. Particulate matter and respiratory problems
3. Acid rain and ecosystem damage
B. Water pollution:
1. Oil spills and marine ecosystems
2. Coal mining and water contamination
3. Fracking and groundwater depletion
C. Land degradation:
1. Deforestation for fuel extraction
2. Mining scars and habitat loss
3. Agricultural impacts of climate change
III. Societal Impacts of Fossil Fuel Consumption
A. Energy security:
1. Dependence on foreign imports
2. Geopolitical conflicts....
The Enigmatic Smog: Unveiling an Apt Nomenclature
The omnipresent shroud of pollutants that obscures our skies has long defied a name that truly encapsulates its insidious nature. The term "smog," a portmanteau of "smoke" and "fog," has become a ubiquitous descriptor, yet it falls short of conveying the multifaceted complexities of this atmospheric menace. To address this linguistic lacuna, let us embark on a lexical odyssey to uncover a nomenclature that aptly captures the essence of this environmental scourge.
A Pollution Tapestry
Smog is a tapestry of suspended particles and gases woven together by the intricate interplay of human activities and atmospheric conditions.....
Impact of Road Traffic on Air Pollution in Urban Areas
Road traffic is a significant contributor to air pollution in urban areas. Vehicles emit a range of harmful pollutants that can have adverse effects on human health and the environment. Understanding the impact of road traffic on air pollution is crucial for developing effective strategies to mitigate its consequences.
Major Air Pollutants from Road Traffic
Particulate Matter (PM): Comprises tiny particles suspended in the air, resulting from vehicle exhaust, brake wear, and tire abrasion. PM can cause respiratory problems, heart disease, and cancer.
Nitrogen Oxides (NOx): Gases released during the combustion of....
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