Acid Rain
Acid rain refers to all types of precipitation--rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog--that is acidic in nature. Acidic means that these forms of water have a pH lower than the 5.6 average of rainwater. Acid rain kills aquatic life, trees, crops and other vegetation, damages buildings and monuments, corrodes copper and lead piping, damages such man-made things as automobiles, reduces soil fertility and can cause toxic metals to leach into underground drinking water sources. Rain is naturally acidic because carbon dioxide, found normally in the earth's atmosphere, reacts with water to form carbonic acid. While "pure" rain's acidity is pH 5.6-5.7, actual pH readings vary from place to place depending upon the type and amount of other gases present in the air, such as sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxides. The term pH refers to the free hydrogen ions (electrically charged atoms) in water and is measured on a scale from 0 to 14. Seven is considered neutral and measurements below seven are acidic while those above it are basic or alkaline. Every point on the pH scale represents a tenfold increase over the previous number. Thus, pH 4 is 10 times more acidic than pH 5 and 100 times more so than pH 6. Similarly, pH 9 is 1O times more basic than pH
As a result of the success of the coal industry, a number of related industries flourish. People realized that the government would have to protect the enviroment but what about them. It also harms vegetation and perhaps the most important effects of acid rain is in the forests which result from nutrient leaching, accumulation of toxic metals and the release of toxic aluminum. Then, rain and snow wash these acids from the air. Other metal flows into the water from the soils in the surrounding watershed. Our school suffered because of the loss of revenue and property taxes because all the mines just shut their doors. On one hand you have the people who feel that the government is just playing a political game. Equipment manufactures designed and built machinery to be used in the mines. Some men were to old to start over again and have struggled from that point on. These are emitted primarily from utility and smelter "smokestacks" and automobile, truck and bus exhausts, but they also come from burning wood. When you consider all of these businesses and people that are involved in the operation of a mine, you can see that mining contributed greatly to the southern Illinois economy. Bankers, lawyers, printerm retailer, etc. Particulates penetrate deep into lungs.
Common topics in this essay:
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Illinois People,
Air Act,
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toxic metals,
southern illinois,
coal industry,
illinois coal,
times basic ph,
Clean Air,
air act,
aquatic life,
nitrogen oxides,
hydrogen ions,
clean air act,
nutrient leaching,
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Acceptance Essays
