The Discussion About Acid Rain
Acid Rain? It sounds like some type of made up rain. Kind of like Sharknado. Acid rain is a thing that has a low pH or a high pOH. Now you may be saying what does any of this even mean? Well, I will tell you the basics of this type of rain. First off I will explain what pH and pOH is. Secondly, I will explain how it turns into this Acidic rain. Lastly, what happens to the things that this acid touches, what is the outcome of this rain. Knowing that Acid breaks things down you should try to guess what happens to the things that this Acid touches. Also knowing it's not a very strong Acid.
Before we get to talking about the other more complicated stuff we should learn the most basic thing. So pH is the most basic thing we should learn; this is the acidity of anything. So if you have a pH of six and under is acidic. So for seven it is neutral anything that has a pH of seven is always neutral. Anything that is 8 and above is basic. Furthermore, USGS explains it more, “The range goes from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. pHs of less than 7 indicate acidity, whereas a pH of greater than 7 indicates a base.” So now that you know that, you need to learn pOH. So pOH is the opposite of pH. So if you had a pH of 4 you would subtract that from 14. Why you would ask 14 this is the highest number that the pH and pHO goes to. So say you have a pH of 6. You would subtract 14 minus 6. This turns out to be 8. So the pOH is 8 so this is basic. Again furthermore, ThoughtCo says, “pOH is a measure of hydroxide ion (OH-) concentration. It is used to express the alkalinity of a solution. Aqueous solutions at 25 degrees Celcius with pOH less than 7 are alkaline, pOH greater than 7 are acidic and pOH equal to 7 are neutral.” Again more of the math to find out the pH and pOH. So Say you have a pH of 2 you would do 14 - 2 which would be a pOH of 12. If you have a pOH of 6 So you would do 14 - 6 it would be a pH of 8. So you have learned the basics of pH and pOH.
Now let's learn about How the water actually turns into acid. The water turns to acid when types of chemicals are emitted into the water. The EPA will furthermore explain the acid rain, “Acid rain results when sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) are emitted into the atmosphere and transported by wind and air currents. The SO2 and NOX react with water, oxygen and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids.” So this explains the type of chemicals in the acid rain and how it all mixed together and turned into acid. Again the pH of acid rate is 4. So it is very acidic. The EPA Explains it more, “Normal, clean rain has a pH value of between 5.0 and 5.5, which is slightly acidic. However, when rain combines with sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides—produced from power plants and automobiles—the rain becomes much more acidic. Typical acid rain has a pH value of 4.0.” This proves that the rain is very acidic. The last thing we need to learn is in the next paragraph. It will teach you what acid rain does and what happens to anything it touches.
Acid rain is very harmful to everything it touches. Well “Why” you may ask. As we learned in the last paragraph, anything under the pH of 7 is very harmful. This acid rain can harm the environment and can destroy buildings and objects, one last thing is it can cause many health problems. So let's get into it. First off the gases that have to be in the air to make acid rain are very harmful itself. The EPA will explain more on this, “Air pollution like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can cause respiratory diseases, or can make these diseases worse. Respiratory diseases like asthma or chronic bronchitis make it hard for people to breathe.” So this includes all the health problems the gases by itself can cause, also it is very bad for the environment. Secondly, buildings and other objects are worn down and the paint starts to peel off. Also on the EPA, it says, “The chemicals found in acid rain can cause paint to peel and stone statues to begin to appear old and worn down, which reduces their value and beauty.” This proves that the acid rain has a very bad effect on everyday things. This stone that makes a building can be harmful to humans when it wears down the stone made to build the building. Next it Acid rain damages lake and streams this is because the lake and streams become acidic it will harm the life in the streams or lakes. The EPA explains this a little bit more, “ In addition, aluminum that is released into the soil eventually ends up in lakes and streams. Unfortunately, this increase in acidity and aluminum levels can be deadly to aquatic wildlife.” This proves that this rain can harm wildlife in streams and lakes because of the acidity in the rain that goes into the stream and lakes. Lastly, It harms the forests. This is because of the trees sucking up the water and also all of the animals and plants that can be damaged with this rain. This is all the ways that acid rain is very harmful to almost everything it touches.
All in all, I think we can agree that acid rain is not very good for anything. So we talked about the basics of pH and pOH. Secondly what turns the rain into acid. Lastly, what happens when the acid touches things. This acid is very dangerous to anything it touches. Do you think we should find a way to find out how to stop this acid? Also do you think that this Acid is bad or good?
