What are probable sources of acid precipitation in your community?

What impact can this have on the environment in your region? Probable sources There are several probable sources and causes for acid precipitation near and around my community. One of the main reasons is coal mining which involves fossil burning. Coal is needed by trains for locomotion around my region. The increase of railroad construction has increased coal mining and therefore increased acid precipitation in my community. Another reason is the burning and the use of oil. Texas is the leading state in oil production. Because of this many Texan communities, including mine, are greatly affected by oil production. Oil production means that more cars are being manufactured around my region therefore increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. This type of gas is very harmful to the environment (both plants and living organisms). Impact on environment Acid precipitation has no positive impacts because it changes the conditions in which a human being lives in. It tends to shift our homeostasis therefore making us prone to diseases. It has also impoverished the soil in the forests around me. The growth of trees and inhabiting plants has decreased due to acid precipitation. To make matters worse, acid precipitation has incurred diseases in the left over plants around my communities. Due to erosion, it has taken away the protective waxy coating the leaves of our trees. Furthermore, acid precipitation is contaminating our drinking water. The water supply that services my region has to be cleaned over and over again to clear this contamination of acids. The problem is the living organisms like fish. The acid left in the water is taking toil on these organisms that causing a decrease of fish in the water. Thus I conclude that acid precipitation is slowly taking life and clean air out of my region and promoting hazardous living conditions. What factors apart from acid rain could be killing trees? Factors There are several factors other than acid rain that could be taking toil on the trees thus killing them. One of them is parasites. An example of a tree killing parasite would be mistletoe. Mistletoes are parasites that get the food from host plants. They begin as sticky small white berries that stick on birds and are carried along from tree to tree. They spread through asexual reproduction. When they germinate this spread through the bark of the trees and begin growing. This causes large swellings on trees. After a period of time, this parasite is able to kill a tree by killing its roots and absorbing all the trees nutrients. Another cause is insects. Insects carry along many viral pathogens which can easily spread from plant to plant. They also attack trees while forming habitats. When many insects decide to form a habitat or infest on one tree, the tree eventually dies because it is constantly and slowly eaten away. Humans also damage and kill trees; we cut them for timber, coal, etc We are the fastest tree killers. Animals also girdle and eat trees. The last but not least is climate change. The changing of seasons from spring to winter carries along many tree lives. Trees that are not yet used to a climate change like winter may end up dying and not sprouting the following spring. Drought may also be another cause which is brought about by lack of water. Only the strong and thick trees may manage to see another season.

Limestone, an underlying material for many soils, dissolves and corrodes when exposed to high concentrations of hydrogen ions. How is this information important in understanding the effects of acid precipitation? Importance Acid precipitation involves the concentration of hydrogen ions in water. By studying the corroded limestone, we are able to determine and understand how acid precipitation affects a certain region. It is through such reactions we are able to collect data on how deep the acid dissolve in the limestone. This then helps us understand or establish whether the acid can actually reach the roots of trees and/or other plants. The data also helps us comprehend what effects acid precipitation has on our plants and our health. After understanding the effects we are then able to start making changes accordingly for the betterment of humankind. Acid precipitation is considered severe if it falls below pH 4. Considering the pH of rainwater, how easy would it be to convert the rainwater to acid precipitation?

Conversion of rainwater to acid precipitation Acid precipitation is used to describe rain, fog, snow, or cloud vapor at or below a pH of 5.6. It is not easy to convert the rainwater pH to a pH of 4. Acid precipitation is formed when for instance nitrogen oxides or sulfur dioxide is expelled into the air. When these gases come in contact with water vapor they form condense and attract each other forming acid precipitation. This process takes several days. One of the main components of acid precipitation is sulfur and it obtained from coal burning, organic decay, volcanic eruptions, of smelting of metal sulfide to obtain metal. When nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide are released into the air, they form or covert to nitric acid and sulfuric acid. Wet deposition can also form ammonia gas. Nitrogen oxides come from bacteria action in the soil, combustion of oil or gas, forest fires etc The foremost component of the formation of acid precipitation is carbon dioxide, the gas we breathe out, which forms carbonic acid. Even though these acidic gases are able to contaminate our water, it is very hard for them to change a pH of 7 (distilled water) to 4.
Carbon dioxide forms a weak acid called carbonic acid when dissolved in water. How can this be a significant factor in the formation of acid rain? Significance When carbon dioxide reacts with water it forms carbonic acid. This weak acid can be a very significant factor when formed in large quantities. All organisms breathe out carbon dioxide; this deadly gas is trapped in the ozone layer and the more there is the more acidic water is created. In normal circumstances, carbonic acid does not largely affect our drinking water but when it is excess in certain areas, it could decrease the pH to even lower amounts that 5.6. Frogs are very sensitive to acid rain. How could this information be used to investigate your observation about the trees dying in the forest? Frogs by natural are very sensitive to acid rain. When water reaches to pH of 4, frogs begin to immigrant or move onto land. By tracking their movement, you can easily tell an area that is affected by acid rain. This would give a researcher a clue of about how acid the water is even before performing or running any test. These frog behaviors may also help biologists track the areas or bodies of water with the acidic rain. Thus based on the frogs reactions, one can determine the reason why trees may be dying at a certain area.

What events could have created the increase in acid precipitation between 1955 and 1990? Events Between 1955 and 1990, car production was very high. This raised the consumption of fuel and energy. Large amounts of toxic emissions and carbon monoxide evaporated in the air. Air pollution increased rapidly as the new industrialized era began to sprout after World War II. Factories were emitting large amounts of nitric oxides; nuclear power plants were releasing a lot of pollutants into the atmosphere. More and more people were moving into suburban areas and trees were being cut massively for construction. Forests were being cut down and some set of fire for coal production or mining. It was not until 1990 that the US congress passed a series of amendments to the clean air act. Why is the Canadian government particularly concerned about negotiating clean air agreements with the United States? Since U.S is right below Canada. Canadians feel that the U.S has to work together with them in order to maintain clean air to avoid diseases. Also, U.S is the world power, if the U.S is to follow up with their negotiation so would the rest of the world; eventually. Therefore Canada is negotiating clean air agreements because it cant clean up the CO2 emission by itself. We all need to come together and it is through our togetherness we will be able to tackle such an obstacle as acid precipitation. Canada sincerely cares for their citizens and there are just trying to do the right thing by starting with their neighboring country, U.S. What is the average number of leaves per tree and the percentage of damaged leaves for both the experimental and control plants over the duration of the experiment? The average number of leaves per tree on the controlled plants is 11 as compared to 4 for the experimental plants. The percentage of damaged trees on the controlled plants is 20 percent as compared to the experimental plants which is 80 percent. The significance is great and the effect is very high. What can you conclude from these results? Based on the results I can conclude that acid precipitation is definitely harmful to our ecosystem and change is needed to fix the issue. More trees and plants are dying because of acid rain in significant amounts. If we continue at this pace, we will devour ourselves. We will eventually start suffering health issues in mass numbers if change is not implemented.