Acid Rain.

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Acid Rain

I am For the reduction of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emission by 80%by the year 2010.We need to take drastic action because the effects on us all are very serious. We must protect ourselves and safeguard our future”

Acid rain, it is dangerous and destructive. The main culprits for producing acid rain are the very industrialized countries; the UK and U.S.A are the two main countries that cause acid rain. These two countries have many coal mines, working factories, power stations and oil refineries all these places produce huge amounts of sulphur dioxide. Also common to both of these countries is the use of motor vehicles these produce over 50% of the nitrogen oxide in the air. When the two gases sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide combine with water droplets in the clouds the make the rainwater very acidic. Natural rain and snow is slightly acidic with a Ph 5.6, because of the carbon dioxide dissolved in it. But over recent decades, rain in North America and Europe areas has had a pH close to 4.5 and sometimes as low as 2.1 this is equivalent to lemon juice. These gases can travel thousands of kilometres in the atmosphere, where they mix with water vapour to form a mild solution of sulphuric and nitric acid. Rain, snow, hail, fog and other precipitation wash this combination down to earth as acid rain.

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The diagram below shows the causes of the problem in the UK and the effects when it reaches Sweden.

Sweden’s forests are being destroyed by acid rain. Due to acid rain many trees in the forests have lost their needles and this affects the forest growth. Researchers are convinced that large areas of forest are close to their biological tolerances. The soil has used up its resources to neutralise the acid rain. In Sweden, nearly 10,000 lakes now have such high mercury concentrations that people are advised not to eat fish caught in them. As the ...

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