Acids and the Environment Webquest Name:

Go to http://www.epa.gov/acidrain to answer the following questions. You may need to click on other links within

the page to find the answers – surf around.

Acid Rain Basics  What is Acid Rain?

1. Define acid rain or acid deposition:

Acid rain, or acid deposition, is a broad term that includes any form of precipitation with acidic components, such as
sulfuric or nitric acid that fall to the ground from the atmosphere in wet or dry forms. This can include rain, snow, fog, hail
or even dust that is acidic.

2.
What all types of precipitation does this include?
 Rain
________________,
hair
________________, ________________, ________________, or even
snow fog
dust
________________.

What Causes Acid Rain?

3. a. What two compounds are the primary causes of acid rain?

 5oz Sulfur dioxide

________________________

 ________________________
Nox oxides

Nitrogen

b. What are three major sources of most of those compounds?

 __________________________________

burningof fossilfuels
 _______________________________________
vehicles andheavy equipment

 _______________________________________

oil refineries
manufacturing and
otherindustries

4. Discuss the pathway of acid rain in the environment – as described in the caption of the image.

1. Emissions of _______
502 and _______NO are released into the air

acid particles that may be transported long distances.

2. Pollutants are transformed into _______
3. These acid particles then fall to the earth as ________
wet and ________ deposition.

dry

soil
4. Causes harmful effects on ________, ______________,
forests ______________ and ____________.
streams lakes

Forms of Acid Deposition

5. What is wet deposition?

Wet deposition is what we most commonly think of as acid rain. The sulfuric and nitric
acids formed in the atmosphere fall to the ground mixed with rain, snow, fog, or hail.

6. What is dry deposition?

Acidic particles and gases can also deposit from the atmosphere in the absence of moisture as dry deposition.
The acidic particles and gases may deposit to surfaces (water bodies, vegetation, buildings) quickly or may
react during atmospheric transport to form larger particles that can be harmful to human health.
Measuring Acid Rain

PH
7. Acid rain is measured using the _____________ scale.

8. Even normal rain is acidic because of carbon dioxide

____________ __________ dissolved in it forming weak carbonic

5.6
acid, giving it a pH around ________.

4.2 4.4
9. Most acid rain falling on the US has a pH between ______-______.

10. What does the NADP and NTN do? How many monitoring sites do they have?

The NADP/NTN collects acid rain at more than 250 monitoring sites throughout the US,

Canada, Alaska, Hawaii and the US Virgin Islands.

11. What does the LTM (Long-term Monitoring Network) measure? How many sites do they monitor?
The Long-Term Monitoring (LTM) Network measures and monitors surface water chemistry at over 280

sites to provide valuable information on aquatic ecosystem health and how water bodies respond to

changes in acid-causing emissions and acid deposition.

Go back to the main page. Click on Acid Rain Basics  Effects of Acid Rain

Effects of Acid Rain on Ecosystems

12. An ___________________
ecosystem is a community of plants, animals and other organisms along with their

environment including the air, water and soil.

13. The ecological effects of acid rain are most clearly seen in aquatic environments, such as streams
___________,

___________, and ___________,

lakes fish
marshes where it can be harmful to ______________ wildlife
and other ___________.

acid
14. The more ______________ that is introduced to the ecosystem (pH decreases), the more

aluminum is released.
_______________

15. What is the animal that is most tolerant of pH changes – that has a critical pH around 4? _____________

Frogs

Effects of Acid Rain on Plants and Trees

Aluminum
16. Acid rain leaches __________________ from the soil. That aluminum may be harmful to ____________ as
Plantsfrom the
well as _____________.
animals Acid rain also removes __________________
minerals and __________________
nutrients

soil that trees need to grow.

17. What effect does acidic fog have on plants/trees?

At high elevations, acidic fog and clouds might strip nutrients from trees’ foliage, leaving them with brown or dead leaves and
needles. The trees are then less able to absorb sunlight, which makes them weak and less able to withstand freezing temperatures.
Buffering Capacity

18. Many forests, streams, and lakes that experience acid rain don’t suffer effects because the soil in those

areas can _______________ the acid rain by _____________________ the acidity in the rainwater flowing
buffer neutralizing

through it. This capacity depends on the ___________________

thickness and __________________
composition of the soil and

the type of bedrock underneath it.

Episodic Acidification

19. Melting snow and heavy rain downpours can result in what is known as episodic acidification. This short
duration of __________ _______________
acidity (i.e., lower pH) can result in a short-term stress on the

higher

injured killed
ecosystem where a variety of organisms or species may be _____________ or ________________.

Nitrogen Pollution

20. It’s not just the acidity of acid rain that can cause problems. Acid rain also contains _______________, and

Nitrogen
this can have an impact on some ecosystems. For example, nitrogen pollution in our coastal waters is

fish
partially responsible for declining __________________ and ________________
shellfish populations in some
human
areas. In addition to agriculture and wastewater, much of the nitrogen produced by ____________

activity
______________ that reaches coastal waters comes from the ________________________.
atmosphere

Effects of Acid Rain on Materials

21. Describe the effects of dry deposition on…

a. Metals corrode

b. Paint/stone deteriorate

c. Buildings
dirty tee surface

Effects of Acid Rain: Human Health

22. Can your health be affected, in a harmful way, by drinking, swimming in, or walking through acid rain?

In the atmosphere, SO2 and NOX gases can be transformed into sulfate and nitrate particles, while some NOX can also react with other pollutants to form ozone. These particles and
ozone make the air hazy and di cult to see through. This a ects our enjoyment of national parks that we visit for the scenic view such as Shenandoah and the Great Smoky Mountains.

23. When is it harmful?

Walking in acid rain, or even swimming in a lake a ected by acid rain, is no more dangerous to humans than walking in normal rain or swimming in non-acidic lakes. However,
when the pollutants that cause acid rain —SO2 and NOX, as well as sulfate and nitrate particles— are in the air, they can be harmful to humans.

heart
24. Many scientific studies have shown a relationship between these particles and effects on ___________

functions such as ___________

_____________,
heart ___________
attacks resulting in death for people with increased heart

function
disease risk, and effects on _________ ____________, such as breathing difficulties for people with

______________________.
asthma lung

Go back to the main page. Click on What EPA Is Doing  Acid Rain Program
25. What is the overall goal of the ARP?
The ARP was the rst national cap and trade program in the country and it introduced a system of allowance trading that uses market-based
incentives to reduce pollution. Reducing emissions using a market-based system provides regulated sources with the exibility to select the most cost-
e ective approach to reduce emissions, and has proven to be a highly e ective way to achieve emission reductions, meet environmental goals, and
improve human health.

Read the Compound Chem article: Ocean Acidification: “The Other Carbon Dioxide Problem” and answer
the following questions. (http://www.compoundchem.com/2017/01/18/ocean-acidification-co2/)

26. What has caused the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide?

burning of fossil fuelsanddeforestation

27. Ocean acidification occurs when atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in sea water and causes a
________________
decrease in the pH of seawater.

28. What was the pH of oceans in pre-industrial times?

8.2
29. In 2013?
8 I
30. What is the pH estimated to be in 2100?

7.7
31. The difference
ocean.
25
of 0.1 pH units means that there is a _____% increase of hydrogen ion concentration in the

carbon dioxide
32. Atmospheric ___________ ____________ dissolves in seawater and reacts with the water to form
carbonic
______________ acid
___________.

increase
33. Hydrogen ions produced by this dissociation ______________ acidity (lowering pH).

34. What are calcifying organisms, and how are they affected by ocean acidification?
Clams oysters crustaceans
Shells are being dissolved
35. How will this affect the food chain?