Acid Rain Essays - Inorganic Solvents, Mineral Acids, Acidic Oxides

Acid Rain Acid rain is a serious problem with disastrous effects. Each day this serious problem increases, many people believe that this issue is too small to deal with right now this issue should be met head on and solved before it is too late. In the following paragraphs I will be discussing the impact has on the wildlife and how our atmosphere is being destroyed by acid rain. CAUSES Acid rain is a cancer eating into the face of Eastern Canada and the North Eastern United States. In Canada, the main sulphuric acid sources are non(c)ferrous smelters and power generation. On both sides of the border, cars and trucks are the main sources for nitric acid(about 40% of the total), while power generating plants and industrial commercial and residential fuel combustion together contribute most of the rest. In the air, the sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can be transformed into sulphuric acid and nitric acid, and air current can send them thousands of kilometres from the source.When the acids fall to the earth in any form it will have large impact on the growth or the preservation of certain wildlife. NO DEFENCE Areas in Ontario mainly southern regions that are near the Great Lakes, such substances as limestone or other known antacids can neutralize acids entering the body of water thereby protecting it. However, large areas of Ontario that are near the Pre(c)Cambrian Shield, with quartzite or granite based geology and little top soil, there is not enough buffering capacity to neutralize even small amounts of acid falling on the soil and the lakes. Therefore over time, the basic environment shifts from an alkaline to a acidic one. This is why many lakes in the Muskoka, Haliburton, Algonquin, Parry Sound and Manitoulin districts could lose their fisheries if sulphur emissions are not reduced substantially. ACID The average mean of pH rainfall in Ontario's Muskoka(c)Haliburton lake country ranges between 3.95 and 4.38 about 40 times more acidic than normal rainfall, while storms in Pennsilvania have rainfall pH at 2.8 it almost has the same rating for vinegar. Already 140 Ontario lakes are completely dead or dying. An additional 48 000 are sensitive and vulnerable to acid rain due to the surrounding concentrated acidic soils.? ACID RAIN CONSISTS OF....? Canada does not have as many people, power plants or automobiles as the United States, and yet acid rain there has become so severe that Canadian government officials called it the most pressing environmental issue facing the nation. But it is important to bear in mind that acid rain is only one segment, of the widespread pollution of the atmosphere facing the world. Each year the global atmosphere is on the receiving end of 20 billion tons of carbon dioxide, 130 million tons of suffer dioxide, 97 million tons of hydrocarbons, 53 million tons of nitrogen oxides, more than three million tons of arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, zinc and other toxic metals, and a host of synthetic organic compounds ranging from polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) to toxaphene and other pesticides, a number of which may be capable of causing cancer, birth defects, or genetic imbalances. COST OF ACID RAIN Interactions of pollutants can cause problems. In addition to contributing to acid rain, nitrogen oxides can react with hydrocarbons to produce ozone, a major air pollutant responsible in the United States for annual losses of $2 billion to 4.5 billion worth of wheat, corn, soyabeans, and peanuts. A wide range of interactions can occur many unknown with toxic metals. In Canada, Ontario alone has lost the fish in an estimated 4000 lakes and provincial authorities calculate that Ontario stands to lose the fish in 48 500 more lakes within the next twenty years if acid rain continues at the present rate.Ontario is not alone, on Nova Scotia's Eastern most shores, almost every river flowing to the Atlantic Ocean is poisoned with acid. Further threatening a $2 million a year fishing industry. ? Acid rain is killing more than lakes. It can scar the leaves of hardwood forest, wither ferns and lichens, accelerate the death of coniferous needles, sterilize seeds, and weaken the forests to a state that is vulnerable to disease infestation and decay. In the soil the acid neutralizes chemicals vital for growth, strips others from the soil and carries them to the lakes and literally retards the respiration of the soil. The rate of forest growth in the White Mountains of New Hampshire has declined 18% between 1956 and 1965, time of increasingly intense acidic rainfall. Acid rain no longer falls exclusively on the lakes, forest, and thin soils of the Northeast it now covers half the continent. EFFECTS There

Join or Die essays

Join or Die essays " ...Do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states..." These words, taken from the Declaration of Independence, exhibit a united and strong force from a people ready and willing to fight to be untied as individuals and as a country. The Declaration plainly exhibits that the people of the United States want to be and are united, which twenty years prior, was not as clear. In 1754, Benjamin Franklin illustrated the need for a group of united states in his cartoon, titled "Join or Die." This cartoon shows a nation unsure of what they want and where they are going. In 1754, the French and Indian War was threatening several of the colonies and their livelihood. The conflict between the British and the French posed a great threat to the colonies. Individually, the colonies were weak and susuptiable to attack. As this war approached, the colonists faced the decision as to come together as one united government. If they did band together, they would benefit by working with all their resources controlled by a central government. An active man in the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin, created a cartoon that brings up the specific issue of unity between the colonies, which, would, 20 years later, form a country based on the notion of unity, The United States. The cartoon that he created consists of a snake divided into 8(one part for each colony that existed at the time) clearly independent pieces, and underneath the snake, Franklin wrote the words Join or Die. In this cartoon, Franklin effectively displays his feelings towards the issues surrounding the colonies at that time. During this time, a familiar myth was that a snake that was cute-up, or separated, that was reassembled before sundown would come back to life. By using a cut-up snake to represent the colonies, Fran...

My Story of a Career in Medicine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My Story of a Career in Medicine - Essay Example I focused on my education in order to realize my dreams. I was also keen to pursue my studies in the United States as I believed that it offered many opportunities to young medical aspirants. And ever since I came to the US my life has never been more dynamic. The educational system in the US has given me the freedom to choose my schedules and to record lectures. This in turn has provided me with ample time to do my other chores and to constantly keep in touch with the subject by listening to the lectures time and again. In addition the creative presentation of lectures by the professors has kept me engaged and challenged me to perform better in the subject. The lectures and experiments in Biology and Physics have perhaps been the most intriguing and motivating for me. God has been kind enough to bestow upon me the privilege of education and in return I have always wanted to reciprocate something back to the society especially for the under-privileged people. It is with this intent t hat I joined the Trio-Upward Bound program which conducted tutoring classes for students. The experience was tremendously fruitful not only for the students but also for me as I saw distinct improvement in my communication skills by the end of the program. The initial personal satisfaction of conveying the beauty of science to the students bloomed into an interest in teaching. As a math tutor and recently, a biochemistry teaching assistant, I have diligently introduced students to fascinating and interesting concepts. In return, I learned a great deal of useful information from the students, my colleagues and my coordinators. This tutoring experience also increased my circle of acquaintances and with whom I enjoyed the pleasure of pursuing our common interests.  Apart from tutoring I also served as a medical volunteer and worked as a medical shadow in a hospital. Coming from a country where medical accessibility is limited, I have always empathized with patients whose illness coul d have been prevented if they had the financial assistance or insurance to pay for the treatments. This interest in promoting healthcare to the lesser privileged individuals drove me to volunteer at a nonprofit clinic for uninsured patients. I experienced a spectrum of emotions ranging from sadness to pure joy during this service in the real medical world.