Acid precipitation: the causes of formation

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

Acid precipitation (rain) is one of the terms that emerged as a result of industrialization.

Air pollution and acid rain

Today, there is a rapid development of industry: the expenditure of the planet's resources, the combustion of fuel, as well as the development of environmentally flawed technologies. This in turn leads to air, water and land pollution. One such manifestation is acid precipitation.

The concept of acid "rain" was first mentioned in 1872, but it only became relevant in the second half of the last century. At the moment, acid precipitation is a serious problem for many countries of the world (almost all European countries and the USA). Ecologists have developed a rain map that clearly depicts areas with a high risk of hazardous rainfall.

Carbon dioxide content in the air

Rainwater has a certain level of acidity. Under normal conditions, this index should correspond to a neutral pH level (from 5.6 - 5.7 and much higher). The slight acidity is the result of carbon dioxide in the air. However, it is so low that it is not capable of harming living organisms. It turns out that the causes of acidrainfall is associated with human activities, natural factors cannot explain this.

The occurrence of acid rain

Acid sludge is formed as a result of the emission of large amounts of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides by enterprises.

Sources of such pollution are thermal power plants, metallurgical production and vehicle exhaust gases. The purification technology has a very low level of development, which does not allow filtering out nitrogen and sulfur compounds resulting from the combustion of peat, coal and other types of raw materials used in industry. Once in the atmosphere, oxides combine with water as a result of reactions under the action of sunlight. After that, they fall as rain, they are called "acid precipitation".

Consequences of acid rain

Scientists say that acid rain is very dangerous for plants, people and animals. Below are the most basic dangers:

- Such rains significantly increase the acidity of all water bodies, whether it is a river, a pond or a reservoir. As a result, extinction of natural fauna and flora is observed. The ecosystem of water bodies is changing, they are becoming clogged, waterlogged, and silt is increasing. After such changes, the water is unfit for human use. It increases the amount of heavy metal s alts and various toxic mixtures that are absorbed by the microflora of the reservoir under normal conditions.

- These rains are the result of plant extinction and forest degradation. Coniferous trees getmost. The fact is that their leaves are very slowly updated, and this does not give them the opportunity to recover on their own after acid rain. Young forests are also subject to this process and their quality is rapidly declining. Excessive mass of sediment leads to the destruction of forests.

- In Europe and the US, acid rain is the biggest cause of poor harvests and the death of crops in the fields. The reason for the damage lies not only in the constant impact of rain, but also in violations of soil mineralization.

- Architectural monuments, various buildings and structures also suffer from acid rain. As a result of this phenomenon, the corrosion process is significantly accelerated, the mechanisms fail.

- In some cases, acid rain can cause irreparable harm to humans and animals. When they are in high-risk areas, they begin to worry about diseases of the upper respiratory tract. If this continues, then soon nitrate and black acid of excessively high concentration will fall out in the form of precipitation. At the same time, the threat to human life is significantly increased.

Fighting acid rain

Of course, you can't go against nature - it is unrealistic to fight with the precipitation itself. Falling out on fields and other large areas, acid precipitation causes irreparable harm, and there is no reasonable solution to this problem. It is quite another matter when it is necessary to eliminate not their consequences, but the causes of their appearance. To avoid the formation of acid rain,you need to constantly comply with a number of rules: environmentally friendly and safe road transport, special technologies for cleaning emissions into the atmosphere, new production technologies, alternative sources of energy production, and so on.

Humanity has ceased to appreciate what it has. We all use the unlimited resources of our planet, pollute it and do not want to accept the consequences. But it is human activity that has brought the Earth to such a state. This is very dangerous, because if we do not start taking care of our planet, the consequences will become catastrophic.