Acidity of Clouds: Acid Rain!!

Prepared by-
Desai Karan Alpesh
Vadodara Institute of
Engineering
Gujarat,
India. 1

Index:
• Introduction.
• Some Historical facts.
• Detailed explanation of the problem.
• Sources of acid rain.
• Ishikawa diagram.
• Effects of acid rain.
• Preventive measures.
• Conclusion.
2

1. Introduction.
• Acid rain
Rain that is more acidic than normal is
called acid rain.
In other words the precipitation
containing acid in amount more than
usual is called acid rain.
Acid rain has pH value very low.
3

What is pH?
• pH
Convenient measure of acidity for dilute
solution
• pH = -log[H+], where [H+] is hydrogen
ion conc. in mole l-1
pH scale for acid varies from 0 to 7. If
lesser the pH more will be acidity.
Acid rain has Ph value varying from 2
to 5.
4

2. Some historical facts.
• Dr. Gene E. Likens discovered acid rain
in North America
• The English chemist Robert Angus
invented the term ‘acid rain’ for the first
time. He is sometimes referred to as the
'Father of Acid Rain’.
Dr. Gene Likens
Robert angus
5

3.Detailed explanation of the process.
• Acid Rain refers to the deposition of acidic
components in either wet forms (e.g. dew,
smog) or dry forms (e.g. sulphates,
nitrates)
• Biggest contributor is the burning of coal.
Annually 70Tg (1012 g) of Sulfur emissions
comes from fossil fuel burning, compared
to 8Tg from volcanoes and 2.8Tg from
wildfires 6

Detailed explanation. (contd…)
• Burning coal is extremely cheap and
efficient but dirty, releasing sulfur dioxide
which becomes sulfuric acid in the
atmosphere.
• Areas downwind of power plants receive
heavy acid rain due to it.
7

4.Sources of acid rain.
1. Sulfur.
2. Nitrogen.
3. Carbon.
4. Methane. (In very small amount)
These gases react with air to form oxides
and than with moisture to form acids.
8

Reactions taking place:
The gases mentioned above forms
oxides and reacts with atmospheric
moisture to form gaseous acids.
Reactions:
1. N2O+H2O=2HNO3
N2O3+H2O=2HNO2
(nitric acid)
2. SO3+1/2 O2+H2O=H2SO4
(sulphuric acid) 9

Some diagrammatic
representation…
10

5.Ishikawa diagram.
Industrial development. Automobiles.
MAN MADE FACTORS.
NATURAL FACTORS,
Volcanic eruptions. Biological process
Agriculture. (N) By product in
combustion of
coal. (N, S)
Dye industry. (S)
Over use of fuel.
(N, S)
Sulfur cycle.Nitrogen cycle.
13

6.Effcts of acid rain.
• There are intense
effects of acid rain on
various components:
1. Effects on
monuments and
sculptures..
2. Effects on trees and
vegetation.
3. Effects on animals.
4. Effects on humans.
14

Effects on sculptures.
1.Many buildings are made of concrete or
stone.
2.These compounds act as bases and
react with acid.
3.The building technically “weathers”
very fast, or Non technically
“crumbles”.
15

Forests affected by Acid
Rain:
1. Northeast US
2. Canada
3. Northern Europe
4. Asia
18

Effect on animals.
• Mostly aquatic life
suffers due to acid
rain.
19

Effect on humans.
Major respiratory problems.
Asthma, along with dry coughs,
headaches, and throat irritations can be
caused by the sulphur dioxides and
nitrogen oxides from acid rain.
Brain damage, kidney problems, and
Alzheimer's disease has been linked to
people eating "toxic" animals/plants.
20

Preventive measures.
• Industry should reduce the production
of dyes and fertilizers needs sulfur and
nitrogen as raw materials.
• Cleaning scrubbers in factories,
washing sulfur out of coal can help.
• One can use natural manure, vermi
technology, biogas remnants as
fertilizers instead of artificial nitrogen
containing fertilizers.
21

Conclusions.
• Acid rain is the rain containing acid in
more proportion than usual.
• Acid rain is caused by two major gases:
sulfur and nitrogen.
• Sulfur and nitrogen comes from
environmental sources like volcanoes or
biological cycles or from man-made
sources like industries and automobiles.
• Effect of acid rain is dangerous. It is
causing damage to health and human
resources. We must take preventive steps.
22

Sources:
• Environmental Studies by R. Rajagopalan,
Oxford University Press
• Howstuffworks.com
• Google.com
• The presentation is prepared on: Microsoft
PowerPoint 2007
24

Acidity of Clouds: Acid Rain!!

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