Report on Acid rain.

The problems a country can face whilst trying to depreciate their emissions can cause many problems within the country like for example last March when the  

Japanese Panasonic factory closed down it left 300 people unemployed. Another scientist said “For many years, there was considerable debate and disagreement over what caused acid rain. Recent scientific work, however, has helped to clarify this

The primary causes of acid rain are sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

Below there is a pie chart showing were the emissions come from.

These chemicals are released by certain industrial processes, and as a result, the more industrialised nations of  suffer severely from acid rain.

Most sulphur dioxide comes from power plants that use coal as their fuel. These plants emit 100 million tons of sulphur dioxide, 70% of that in the world.

Automobiles produce about half of the world's nitrogen oxide. As the number of automobiles in use increases, so does the amount of acid rain. Power plants that burn  also contribute significantly to nitrogen oxide emission.

Though human causes are essentially responsible for acid rain, natural causes exist as well. Fires, volcanic eruptions, bacterial decomposition, and lightening also greatly increase the amount of nitrogen oxide on the planet.

Once the tiny pollutant molecules have entered the atmosphere, they can travel for thousands of miles. Eventually, the particles will combine with other compounds to produce new, often harmful, chemicals.

Acid rain comes down to the earth in the form of rain, snow, hail, fog, frost, or dew. Once it reaches the ground, the acidity in the substance can harm and even destroy both natural  and man-made products, such as car finishes”.

The picture above shows how acid rain is produced.

The environmentalists said, “Acid rain is having harmful effects both on people and on the natural ecosystems of the world and it has to be stopped” and the Scientists are also convinced that acid rain is severe in many areas, and that it is having an unfriendly effect on the environments of those locations.

The problem of acid rain is rapidly spreading. Because it is mainly caused by industrial processes, automobiles, and power plants. Those countries that are developed have the most severe acid rain problems. However, as the undeveloped nations begin to industrialise, acid rain will increase greatly. After this conversation the environmental ministers, scientists and the environmentalists agreed that acid rain has to be reduced because of the effects it has on the environment. Everyone agreed that acid rain has to be reduced except the transport industry because they fear the effects on their profits. Everyone except the transport industry agreed the effects are devastating because it does the following to the environment,

-Acid rain stops trees in the forests from growing as quickly at a healthy pace. Leaves and needles turn brown and fall off when they should be green and healthy. In extreme cases, individual trees or entire areas of the forest simply die off without an obvious reason.

Acid rain causes slower growth, injury, or death of forests.

-Places with water, such as lakes and rivers, see many of their inhabitants die off due to rising acidity levels.

Acidic water also ruins plant nutrients, hurting plants and their ability to survive and to give life to other organisms.

The environmental ministers, scientists and the environmentalists came up with the following solutions,

• Lime places were there is water will reduce the acidity of the water so less animals will die
• Power plants can reduce acid rain creation. They can use coal with a low sulphur content, they can remove the sulphur from smoke their plants release, and they can limit acid rain.
• Catalytic converters in cars can reduce the emissions of NOx by up to 90 percent,
• -The installation of sulphur cleaning scrubbers in factories, washing sulphur out of coal, and finding new methods of burning coal can reduce acid rain.
• Governments should pass laws restricting pollution levels, or can use a variety of methods such as telling people to drive their cars less and use less energy to reduce acid rain. Whatever way it is done, acid rain will certainly have to be limited in the future.