Essay on acid rainAcid rain is a great problem in our world. It causes fishand plants to die in our waters. As well it causes harm to our own race aswell, because we eat these fish, drink this water and eat these plants. Itis a problem that we must all face together and try to get rid of. Howeveracid rain on it's own is not the biggest problem. It cause many otherproblems such as aluminum poisoning. Acid Rain is deadly.Acid rain is all the rain, snow, mist etc that falls from the sky ontoour planet that contains an unnatural acidic. It is not to be confused withuncontaminated rain that falls, for that rain is naturally slightly acidic.It is caused by today's industry. When products ...view middle of the document...
Divers were sent in to examine the bottom of the rivers. What theyfound were many more dead fish. Many live and dead specimens were takenback to labs across Norway. When the live specimens were examined they werefound to have very little sodium in their blood. This is typical a typicalsymptom of acid poisoning. The acid had entered the gills of the fish andpoisoned them so that they were unable to extract salt from the water tomaintain their bodies sodium levels.Many scientist said that this acid poising was due to the fact that itwas just after the winter and that all the snow and ice was running downinto the streams and lakes. They believed that the snow had been exposed tomany natural phenomena that gave the snow it's high acid content. Otherscientists were not sure that this theory was correct because at the timethat the snow was added to the lakes and streams the Ph levels would changefrom around 5.2 to 4.6. They believed that such a high jump could not beattributed to natural causes. They believed that it was due to airpollution. They were right. Since the beginning of the Industrialrevolution in England pollution had been affecting all the trees,soil andrivers in Europe and North America.However until recently the loses of fish was contained to the southernparts of Europe. Because of the constant onslaught of acid rain lakes andrivers began to lose their ability to counter act their affects. Much ofthe alkaline elements; such as calcium and limestone; in the soil had beenwashed away. It is these lakes that we must be worried about for they willsoon become extinct.A fact that may please fishermen is that in lakes/rivers they tend tocatch older and larger fish. This may please them in the short run howeverthey will soon have to change lakes for the fish supply will die quickly inthese lakes. The problem is that acid causes difficulties the fish'sreproductive system. Often fish born in acid lakes do not survive for theyare born with birth defects such as twisted and deformed spinal columns.This is a sign that they are unable to extract enough calcium from thewater to fully develop their bone. These young soon die. With nocompetition the older,stronger can grow easily. However there food iscontaminated as well by the acid in the water. Soon they have not enoughfood for themselves and turn to cannibalism. With only an older populationleft there is no one left to regenerate themselves. Soon the lake dies.By the late 1970s many Norwegian scientists began to suspect that itwas not only the acid in the water that was causing the deaths. They hadproved that most fish could survive in a stream that had up to a 1 unitdifference in PH. After many experiments and research they found that theirmissing link was aluminum.Aluminum is one of the most common metals on earth. It is stored in acombined form with other elements in the earth. When it is combined itcannot dissolve into the water and harm the fish and plants. However theacid from acid rain ...
