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Acid Rain

Acid Rain

Acid rain is a serious problem with disastrous effects. Each day

this serious problem increases, many people believe that this issue

is too small to deal with right now this issue should be met head

on and solved before it is too late. In the following paragraphs I

will be discussing the impact has on the wildlife and how our

atmosphere is being destroyed by acid rain.

CAUSES

Acid rain is a cancer eating into the face of Eastern Canada and

the North Eastern United States. In Canada, the main sulphuric acid

sources are non©ferrous smelters and power generation. On both

sides of the border, cars and trucks are the main sources for

nitric acid(about 40% of the total), while power generating plants

and industrial commercial and residential fuel combustion together

contribute most of the rest. In the air, the sulphur dioxide and

nitrogen oxides can be transformed into sulphuric acid and nitric

acid, and air current can send them thousands of kilometres from

the source.When the acids fall to the earth in any form it will

have large impact on the growth or the preservation of certain

wildlife.

NO DEFENCE

Areas in Ontario mainly southern regions that are near the Great

Lakes, such substances as limestone or other known antacids can

neutralize acids entering the body of water thereby protecting it.

However, large areas of Ontario that are near the Pre©Cambrian

Shield, with quartzite or granite based geology and little top

soil, there is not enough buffering capacity to neutralize even

small amounts of acid falling on the soil and the lakes. Therefore

over time, the basic environment shifts from an alkaline to a

acidic one. This is why many lakes in the Muskoka,

Haliburton, Algonquin, Parry Sound and Manitoulin districts could

lose their fisheries if sulphur emissions are not reduced

substantially.

ACID

The average mean of pH...