Acid Rain In Australia

Words: 1481
Pages: 6
Open Document
Acid rain is an issue that occurs around the globe. This assignment will be discussing the pro and cons of nuclear power to answer the question "Should all coal-fired power stations in Australia be replaced with nuclear power stations to reduce the effects of acid rain?" Acid rain not only effects the environment but it also effects buildings and can have effects on humans. Acid rain is relevant in today's society as it is an issue throughout the whole world, food chains are being disrupted worldwide due to the effects on the environment and it erodes buildings made of limestone and sandstone. It also weakens metals over time, which could mean that monuments are being weakened and harmed all because of acid rain.
Acid rain is defined as rain …show more content…
The major natural cause of acid rain is erupting volcanoes. Volcanoes emit acid and produce gases, creating high amounts of acid rain, or other forms of precipitation. Within the environment, decaying plants, biological processes and wildfires generate the gases that form acid rain. Lightning strikes produce nitric oxides that react with water molecules to produce nitric acid, forming acid rain. Primary contributors to acid rain are human activities, including air pollution sources such as factories, power generations facilities and automobiles. Gaseous emissions are mostly contributed by coal, used for power. On a daily basis, automobiles and factories emit gases that cause acid rain, especially in urban areas. These gases react in the atmosphere and with other chemicals forming acidic compounds. These gases, sulfur dioxide ad nitric oxide, are gases primarily occurring from electric power generation by burning coal and are responsible for …show more content…
Acid rain can fall directly on aquatic bodies and the acid gets accumulated in the water, and lowers the pH of the water. The animals in the water need a particular pH to survive and if the pH is lower the needed pH, conditions can become hostile. Some species have been reduced or eliminated due to acid rain. Acid rain makes trees vulnerable to disease, bad weather, and insects by stopping growth, damaging bark and ruining the leaves. Acid raid impacts highly on soil biology and chemistry. The soil needs an optimum level pH for biological activities to continue. The effects acid rain has on soil, has damaged vegetation cover and even led to the death of some vegetation and forests. Acid rain corrodes buildings made of particular materials, it also leaves the buildings very weak. Modern and heritage buildings get affected by acid
Show More

Related Documents: Acid Rain In Australia

How Does Climate Affect Climate Change

The Australia had had a love-hate relationship with the sea and the water held in the many rivers running through its landscape. The climate change in Australia is likely to affect the marine ecosystems, agriculture, water security, average rainfall and temperatures. According to the article Climate Change Impacts on Australia, ‘Crop production is likely to be affected directly by changes in average rainfall and temperatures, in the distribution of rainfall during the year, and in rainfall variability…

Words 715 - Pages 3

Energy Use Essay

Energy use Global Issue: Why energy use is a problem: Energy use isn’t just some far off thing that affects nobody, in fact, it affects most people’s everyday lives. Many issues arise from the use of energy: greenhouse gas emissions, acid rain, climate change, and dependency on depleting supplies of fossil fuels— especially from politically unstable regions of the world. It also increases land pollution when renewable energy isn’t used as well as water and atmospheric pollution. 1 It’s actually not…

Words 572 - Pages 3

Effects Of Natural Disasters

layer will contribute to the green house effect. People's homes are wiped out and livelihoods are destroyed. Poverty, population pressures and environmental degradation mean that increasing numbers of people are vulnerable to natural disasters. In Australia, natural disasters such as floods, bush-fires and tropical cyclones occur regularly across the Australian continent. They cause more than $1.14 billion damage each year to homes, businesses…

Words 4729 - Pages 19

Climate Change Notes

generating electricity or traveling around, but also when burning wood for fires, cooking and heating. Fertilizers also cause gases to be released into the atmosphere, which then help trap-incoming heat in the atmosphere causing the earth to heat up. Acid rain is not a direct cause of global warming but when affecting vegetated areas it can interfere with the carbon cycle. Removal of vegetation has a one major impact on the carbon cycle, it…

Words 1508 - Pages 7

Essay on Chemistry Notes

electricity allows it to be used for components such as memory chips inside your laptop, or computer. Gold can also be used through dentistry as an alloy to make teeth fillings. It's corrosion resistance allows it to be used in teeth so that food acids don't cause corrosion. b) Name the ore from which the metal you chose is extracted. Research the abundance and ease of extraction of the ore on our Earth. Since gold is such an unreactive metal, it is usually found in its uncombined and elemental…

Words 1549 - Pages 7

Year 10 Geography notes Essay

wind blows loose, dry beach sand inland. Dune systems are important because during storm conditions they act as a buffer against the high- energy waves. They have been used for recreation, mined for sand and minerals, used as rubbish dumps in Australia. Coastal wetlands Estuaries and lagoons are two distinctive features of coastal wetlands. Estuaries are the lower areas of a river and its mouth and often support vegetation. A lagoon is a large body of water that sometimes forms behind depositional…

Words 1140 - Pages 5

Essay Chris Brown

from fossil fuels and large hydroelectric projects. The once abundant wind machines that were a common feature of the rural landscape have largely disappeared from sight. These are the other country and states in the U.S.A that use the wind energy: Australia Brazil Canada China Wales Republic of Ireland Scotland England India Japan New Zealand South Africa. The wind energy has a lot of problems it causes Destruction of fragile ecosystems and animal habitats Deforestation Excavation Erosion. It also…

Words 851 - Pages 4

Essay on Bs on Rice

insurance policy. Three-quarters of the world's food supply comes from twelve plant species, but those species are dependent on thousands of others: pollinators (insects, bats, birds), soil microbes, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and fungi. The tropical rain forests contain a pool of genetic diversity for important food crops, a source for vital new strains that can be hybridized to fight pests and diseases. Botanists are combing the planet for wild ancestors of soybeans, tomatoes, hard wheat, and grapes…

Words 2957 - Pages 12

2014 08 29 Ecological Economics Essay

to economists as ‘externalities’, and the main objective of environmental economists is to internalise such environmental costs into the price mechanism. Eg. the price of gold mined in Central Kalimantan does not include the environmental costs of acid-mine drainage, noise and dust pollution, and tailings leakage. Governments can address these externalities through direct regulation or by intervening to alter price signals in the market (eg. a pollution tax) The Coase Theorem on externalities: if…

Words 1286 - Pages 6

Pineapple (Ananas Comosus) Skin and Dusol (Kaempferia Galanga Linn.) Rhizome as Antibacterial Organic Soap Essay

But some may still produce bad results and some can be too expensive to purchase. But there are other options that can be made to have healthy skin. Pineapple is an abundant tropical fruit commonly found in humid and hot regions. Citric and malic acids are found in good…

Words 2772 - Pages 12