CHE 310 Lecture 12: CHEM310AcidRaid
26 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
The species that are responsible for a(cid:272)id (cid:396)ai(cid:374)(cid:863) a(cid:396)e a(cid:272)idi(cid:272) (cid:272)o(cid:374)stitue(cid:374)ts of the atmosphere that include hno3 and h2so4. These acids add to the natural acidification of rain water described above. These acids can be formed both naturally and through anthropogenic pollution. Naturally, hno3 derives from no produced in lightning and forests fires, while h2so4 derives from volcanoes and biogenic s compounds. So at natural concentrations, these acids rarely influence rainwater ph. Pollution areas have high concentration of these acids and can reduce the ph of rain water siginificantly over extended regions, producing what is known as acid rain. The acid rain can fall quite far from the sources of pollution, due to long-range atmospheric transport. Acid rain is a pressing problem for areas downwind of coal-fired power plants, whose tall smokestacks ameliorate local pollution by lofting so2 and no emissions high into the air.
