SVN3M
Unit 1: Thinking Environmentally
Acid Precipitation
How is acid rain caused or created?
What is the pH scale determined by?
Name a common substance that is acidic? basic? (not from the chart )
Name 3 types of acid rain: (Chemical Formula and Name))
NAME Compound emitted by
Reaction
human activity
For forest ecosystems, what are the two major effects of acid rain?
a. Soil:
b. Leaves:
For the aquatic ecosystem, what are the two major effects of acid rain?
c. Soil/Bedrock:
pH
SVN3M
Unit 1: Thinking Environmentally
d. Populations:
For agriculture, what are the two major effects of acid rain?
e. Soil:
f. Plants:
For society, what are the two major effects of acid rain?
g. Building, statues and monuments:
h. Health:
Case Study: Sudbury Super Stacks
The Inco Superstack in Sudbury, Ontario, with a height of 380 meters (1,250 ft), is the tallest chimney in
Canada and the Western hemisphere, and the second tallest freestanding chimney in the world. It is also
the second tallest freestanding structure of any type in Canada, ranking behind the CN Tower but ahead
of First Canadian Place. Just 69 metres shorter than the Empire State Building, it is the 33rd tallest
freestanding structure in the world. The Superstack sits atop the largest nickel smelting operation in the
world at Inco's Copper Cliff processing facility in the city of Greater Sudbury. While the Superstack
lowered the ground-level pollution in the city, it has dispersed sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide gases
over a much larger area as far away as Scandinavia. Technological advances like scrubbers (filters that
capture acid rain creating compounds) have been employed and have significantly reduced emissions,
but this is only one aspect.
Just as the Superstack blows Canada’s emissions away, the prevailing winds bring emissions from the
heavily industrialized Ohio Valley into northern Ontario compounding the issue of acid rain.
Is this process of sending toxic emissions into the airspace (and lungs!) of another country fair?
Do you feel differently about the American emissions to Canada than you do about the Canadian
emissions to Scandinavia? Discuss why we might be against one but for the other!