Chemistry of acid deposition

Acid rain is a popular expression for the more scientific term acid deposition, which refers to the
many ways in which acidity can move from the atmosphere to Earths surface. Acid deposition
includes acidic rain as well as other forms of acidic wet depositionsuch as snow, sleet, hail,
and fog (or cloud water). Acid deposition also includes the dry deposition of acidic particles and
gases, which can affect landscapes during dry periods. Thus, acid deposition is capable of
affecting landscapes and the living things that reside within them even when precipitation is not
occurring.
Acidity is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions (H
+
) in a solution. The pH scale
measures whether a solution is acidic or basic. Substances are considered acidic below a pH of 7,
and each unit of pH below 7 is 10 times more acidic, or has 10 times more H
+
, than the unit
above it. For example, rainwater with a pH of 5.0 has a concentration of 10 microequivalents of
H
+
per litre, whereas rainwater with a pH of 4.0 has a concentration of 100 microequivalents of
H
+
per litre.
Normal rainwater is weakly acidic because of the absorption of carbon dioxide (CO
2
) from the
atmospherea process that produces carbonic acidand from organic acids generated from
biological activity. In addition, volcanic activity can produce sulfuric acid (H
2
SO
4
), nitric acid
(HNO
3
), and hydrochloric acid (HCl) depending on the emissions associated with specific
volcanoes. Other natural sources of acidification include the production of nitrogen oxides from
the conversion of atmospheric molecular nitrogen (N
2
) by lightning and the conversion of
organic nitrogen by wildfires. However, the geographic extent of any given natural source of
acidification is small, and in most cases it lowers the pH of precipitation to no more than about
5.2.
Anthropogenic activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) and the
smelting of metal ores, are the major causes of acid deposition. In the United States, electric
utilities produce nearly 70 percent of SO
2
and about 20 percent of NO
x
emissions. Fossil fuels
burned by vehicles account for nearly 60 percent of NO
x
emissions in the United States. In the
atmosphere, sulfuric and nitric acids are generated when SO
2
and NO
x
, respectively, react with
water. The simplest reactions are:
SO
2
+ H
2
O H
2
SO
4
H
+
+ HSO
4
2H
+
+ SO
4
2

NO
2
+ H
2
O HNO
3
H
+
+ NO
3

These reactions in the aqueous phase (for example, in cloud water) create wet deposition
products. In the gaseous phase they can produce acidic dry deposition. Acid formation can also
occur on particles in the atmosphere.
Where fossil fuel consumption is large and emission controls are not in place to reduce SO
2
and
NO
x
emissions, acid deposition will occur in areas downwind of emission sources, often
hundreds to thousands of kilometres away. In such areas the pH of precipitation can average 4.0
to 4.5 annually, and the pH of individual rain events can sometimes drop below 3.0. In addition,
cloud water and fog in polluted areas may be many times more acidic than rain falling over the
same region.
Many air pollution and atmospheric deposition problems are intertwined with one another, and
these problems are often derived from the same cause, namely the burning of fossil fuels. In
addition to acid deposition, NO
x
emissions along with hydrocarbon emissions are key ingredients
in ground-level ozone (photochemical smog) formation, which is one of the most widespread
forms of air pollution. The SO
2
and NO
x
emissions can generate fine particulates, which are
harmful to human respiratory systems. Coal combustion is the leading source of atmospheric
mercury, which also enters ecosystems by wet and dry deposition. (A number of other heavy
metals, such as lead and cadmium, and various particulates are also products of unregulated
fossil fuel combustion.) Acid deposition of nitrogen derived from NO
x
emissions creates
additional environmental problems. For example, many lake, estuarine, and coastal marine
systems receive too much nitrogen from atmospheric deposition and terrestrial runoff. This
eutrophication (or over-enrichment) causes the overgrowth of plants and algae. When these
organisms die and decompose, they deplete the dissolved oxygen supply necessary for most
aquatic life in water bodies. Eutrophication is considered to be a major environmental problem in
lake, coastal marine, and estuarine ecosystems worldwide.
Ecological effects of acid deposition
Effects on lakes and rivers
The regional effects of acid deposition were first noted in parts of western Europe and eastern
North America in the late 1960s and early 1970s when changes in the chemistry of rivers and
lakes, often in remote locations, were linked to declines in the health of aquatic organisms such
as resident fish populations. Increasing amounts of acid deposition in sensitive areas caused tens
of thousands of lakes and streams in Europe and North America to become much more acidic
than they had been in previous decades. Acid-sensitive areas are those that are predisposed to
acidification because the regions soils have a low buffering capacity, or low acid-neutralizing
capacity (ANC). In addition, acidification can release aluminum bound to soils, which in its
dissolved form can be toxic to both plant and animal life. High concentrations of dissolved
aluminum released from soils often enter streams and lakes. In conjunction with rising acidity in
aquatic environments, aluminum can damage fish gills and thus impair respiration. In the
Adirondack Mountain region of New York state, research has shown that the number of fish
species drops from five in lakes with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0 to only one in lakes with a pH of 4.0 to
4.5. Other organisms are also negatively affected, so that acidified bodies of water lose plant and
animal diversity overall.
High acidity, especially from sulfur deposition, can accelerate the conversion of elemental
mercury to its deadliest form: methyl mercury, a neurological toxin. This conversion most
commonly occurs in wetlands and water-saturated soils where low-oxygen environments provide
ideal conditions for the formation of methyl mercury by bacteria. Methyl mercury concentrates
in organisms as it moves up the food chain. Small concentrations of methyl mercury present in
phytoplankton and zooplankton accumulate in the fat cells of the animals that consume them.
Since animals at higher tiers of the food chain must always consume large numbers of organisms
from lower ones, the concentrations of methyl mercury in top predators, which often include
humans, increase to levels where they could become harmful. The bioaccumulation of methyl
mercury in the tissues of fishes is the leading reason for government health advisories that
recommend reduced consumption of fish from fresh and marine waters.
In addition, aquatic acidification may be episodic, especially in colder climates. Sulfuric and
nitric acid accumulating in a snowpack can leach out rapidly during the initial snowmelt and
result in a pulse of acidic meltwater. Such pulses may be much more acidic than any individual
snowfall event over the course of a winter, and these events can be deadly to acid-sensitive
aquatic organisms throughout the food web.