Water Quality by Claude E. Boyd

Author:Claude E. Boyd
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030233358
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Acidic, Atmospheric Deposition

Rainwater naturally has a pH of about 5.6 because it becomes saturated with carbon dioxide while falling through the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide concentration of the atmosphere is increasing, but this has little effect on the pH of rain. A pH <5.6 in rainfall usually results from atmospheric pollution with sulfur and nitrogen gases. The acidic rain problems have arisen because of combustion of fuels, and it is most severe in urbanized and industrial areas and in the direction of the prevailing wind from these areas. Rainfall in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States was reported to have an annual, average pH of 4.2–4.4 and rain from individual storms had lower pH (Haines 1981).

Hydrogen sulfide and other sulfides emitted with sulfur dioxide are oxidized to sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. In the gaseous phase of the atmosphere, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides (NOx) form strong acids as illustrated in the sequence of reactions given below:

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.