Carbon dioxide (CO2) reacts with water to form carbonic acid (HCO3-).
Chlorine (CI2) reacts with water to form Hydrochloric acid (CI-).
Some other gases that are being released in the air are carbon dioxide, carbon monoxides, chlorofluorocarbons, hazardous air pollutants, lead, nitrogen oxides, ozone, particulate matter, sulfur dioxides, and volatile organic compounds. Carbon dioxide is released by burning coal, oil, and natural gas. If you inhale carbon dioxide, since it is toxic, it can cause you to breathe more than usual, unconsciousness, and other serious health problems. Carbon monoxide is released by burning gasoline, oil, and wood. When carbon monoxide enters your body, it goes into the bloodstream. When this happens, it will slow down the delivery of oxygen to the rest of the body, causing dizziness, headaches, and fatigue. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) are the chemicals that are used in industry, refrigeration, air conditioning systems, and consumer products. Whenever CFC’s are released into the air, they reduce the stratospheric ozone layer. The stratospheric ozone layer protects Earth’s surface from the harmful rays of the sun. Hazardous air pollutants (HAPS) are released into the air by sources such as chemical plants, dry cleaners, printing plants, and motor vehicles (cars, trucks, buses, and planes). HAPS can cause serious health problems like cancer, birth defects, nervous system problems, and deaths that are all due to people accidentally letting them go into the air. House and car paint as well as the manufacturing of lead batteries, fishing lures, certain parts of bullets, some ceramic ware, water pipes, and fixtures, release lead. In young children, lead can cause nervous system damage and learning problems. Nitrogen oxides are released into the air by burning fuels such as gasoline and coal. When nitrogen oxides combined with Volatiles Organic Compounds (VOCs), they can cause breathing difficulty in people who have asthma, coughs in children, and general illness in your respiratory system. Motor vehicles, industries, burning coal, gasoline, other fossil fuels; along with chemicals that are in hairspray and paints release ozone. When ozone is close to the ground (ground level ozone) it can cause chest pain, irritated respiratory tract, or persistent cough, can make you unable to take deep breaths, and can make you more likely to get lung infections. Particulate matter (PM), little particles of pollution, are released by cars, trucks, and buses that are burning diesel fuel, fertilizers, pesticides, road construction, steel making, mining, and turning on fire places and wood stoves. When PMs mix with air particles and get breathed in, they get stuck in the lung tissue. There they can cause increased respiratory disease and lung damage. Sulfur dioxides are released by burning coal, paper production, and melting metal. Sulfur dioxide can harm vegetation, harm metals, and cause lung problems, which include breathing problems and permanent lung damage. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released into the air by burning gasoline, wood, coal, or natural gas, solvents, paints, glues, and other products that are used at work or home. There are a lot of similarities in all of these pollutants; most of these pollutants are from automobiles. Automobiles release harmful smoke into the air, which causes acid rain. In Canada, industrial activities, including oil refining and metal smelting, account for 61 percent of sulfur dioxide pollution. In the United States, 70 percent of sulfur dioxide pollution comes from power plants especially those that burn coal. Coal, oil, and gasoline are also some of the most common causes of all the pollutants.
Acid rain effects almost everything and anything over a period of time. It reacts chemically with any object it comes in contact with. It effects sea life, forests, air, us and our health, and also nonliving things. On sea life, acid rain damages all the plants and animals living inside a body of water. Acid rain causes lakes and rivers to become acidic, killing off fish. All the fish in 140 lakes in Minnesota have been killed, and the salmon and trout populations of Norway’s major rivers have been severely reduced because of the increased acidity of the water. Short-term increases in acid levels kill lots of fish, but the greatest threat is from long-term increases, which stop the fish from reproducing. The extra acid also frees toxic metals, which prevents fish from breathing. Single celled plants and algae in lakes also suffer from increased acid levels, with numbers dropping off quickly once the pH goes below 5, and by the time the pH gets down to 4.5, virtually everything is dead. In northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, the water in some lakes now has a pH value of less than 5 as a result of acid rain. This means they are at least ten times more acidic than they should be. In the Adirondack Mountains of New York Sates, a quarter of the lakes and ponds are acidic, and many have lost their brook trout and other fish. In the middle of the Appalachian Mountains, over 1,300 streams are afflicted (Hart, John B.A., 1997). Acid rain has made the lakes and streams unbearable by three important ways: lowering pH levels; decreasing acid-neutralizing capacity (ANC); and increasing aluminum concentrations (Driscoll, C.T., 2001). Trees are also harmed by acid rain. In Germany, the forests are believed to be dying because acid rain is harming them. Scientist says that acid rain damages the waxy outer coating that protects the leaves. When this happens it allows acid to seep into the tree. This prevents the plant from taking in carbon dioxide to perform photosynthesis, and the plant will eventually die. The harmful acid rain also effects the air, humans and our health. Some of the most common health problems are breathing problems, nervous system problems, and lung problems. People who have asthma are more affected when there is an increase of acid pollution. Everything that we eat, drink, and breathe has at one time come in contact with acid deposits. This could threaten our health and make us sick. Each year our hospitals have 550 premature deaths, 1,520 emergency room visits and 210,070 asthma symptom days due to the unhealthy effects of acid rain (Cherrington, Brett, 1996). In Sweden, as many as 10,000 lakes has been polluted by mercury, which was released by soil, that was damaged by acid rain. Urban smog is also produced by acid rain and is harmful to humans; it irritates the lungs and can cause breathing difficulty. Non-living things are also effected by acid rain. Statues and buildings start to decay and our countries memories and artifacts decay too. Two examples of acid pollution deterioration are the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, and the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. There are many things we can do to reduce the problems of acid pollution. One major way is to reduce the amount of trips you take in your car. Another way that a lot of our pollution is caused is by creating electrical energy. When electricity is created, fuels are usually burned, and this causes the pollution, which causes acid rain. The generation of electric power produces more pollution than any other industry in the United States. If people reduce the amount of these things that they release into the air, then there will be fewer pollutants. In our home we can run the dishwasher and washing machine with a full load, turn off lights, turn off hot water tank, turn down the heat at night, don’t use the air conditioner as much, install fluorescent light bulbs, reduce, reuse, and recycle. In the yard, keep the pool cover on the pool when it is not in use. When going to work, you could walk, ride your bike, take a bus, or car pool; and try to use ethanol or propane gas.
As the World’s population we should take care of our environment. Some of the things that are being hurt are mostly due to our inconsiderate and selfish actions. People can help stop acid rain by not polluting the air. We want this land to stay clean and fresh as if we just settled here back when this land was first discovered. All people should take into consideration others and our next generations. We don’t want this land to be poor and unhealthy for our kids and their kids.