Dangerous effects of Acid Rain

Acid rain can be described as rainfall that has been made acidic by pollution from the atmosphere and consequently causes dangerous effects on the infrastructure, aquatic animals, and plants; elevated levels of ions of hydrogen. This kind of rainfall is also associated with health complications. According to research acid rain is mainly caused by burning of coal by industries, fossil fuels and other wasted gas that may contain sulfur which combines with oxygen to form sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide des. These gases combine with atmospheric water thus forming acids. Acid rain levels of hydrogen ions are elevated and that’s what created a difference when compared to normal rain. The soil PH is either altered or damaged by the water affecting the performance of soil microbes, biological activity, and soil chemical compositions.

For biological activities of the soil to flourish the PH value has to be maintained because failure to do so the chemical and biological activities are tampered with. Some of the soil microorganisms can't adopt changes in PH because they are very sensitive, this kills them instead. The soil may also lose its quality, making it hard for it to support any kind of plantation or soil microorganisms. 2 H+ (aq) + Mg2+ (clay) ⇌ 2 H+ (clay) + Mg2+ (aq) B. Acid rain increases aluminum which may be very harmful to both plants and animals. The acid take away all the nutrients and minerals in the soil making it hard for the trees and plants to survive due to lack of food and pest infection.

Acidic rain causes fogs and clouds that may cause trees to have brown or dead leaves due to the striped nutrients. This makes the trees unable to withstand temperatures that are extremely cold because the dead leaves ate unable to absorb sunlight. Plants may also experience stunted growth. CaCO3 (s) + H2SO4 (aq) ⇌ CaSO4 (s) + CO2 (g) + H2O (l) F. Acid rain may have other effects on human health due to the formation of ozone layers. This reduces eye visibility and if precaution is not taken it may lead to eyesight complication. Human beings may experience breathing problems when the particles of sulfur and nitrogen are inhaled into the lungs. It has been proven scientifically that heart may experience complications such as heart attacks.

People should be careful on amounts of electricity they use because the less electricity they use the less the chemicals emitted by power plants. People can opt to use means of transport of transport such as biking, walking or carpooling because vehicles are a great fossil fuel users. Programs such as the EPA’S have been put in place to regulate the issue of acid rains too (Ibrahim, 170). This program regulates the amount of sulfur dioxide that is emitted into the air by power plants by covering the emissions. The program also ensures that the amount of nitrogen oxide particles released is regulated. This can only be done if the other options are not available. At the same time, sometimes using unleaded petrol may not be of much help because, at the end of the day, there may be motor vehicles that are not well serviced.