ACID RAIN AFFECTING TAJMAHAL

Friends we know that acid rain is causing a great damage to monuments and buildings around the world, we should also know how it's affecting the world wonders. Now lets look how the Indian beauty ( world wonder ) is being affected by it.

The first picture was taken some decades back, it shows how Tajmahal was looking at that time and the picture in the right was taken 4 years back.

The second picture shows the present

affected status of Tajmahal.

The third picture showing a onument picture that was affected seriously by Tajmahal.

These kinds of damages are non-reversible. Tajmahal was built by the mughal emperor shajahan during the mughal period. Since the area in which Tajmahal is located is surrounded by many industries and factories they emit more amount of pollutants in to the atmosphere, they even release toxic components, acidic components in to the near by water bodies. As i have mentioned early in this blog the water bodies follows the normal water cycle. So the rain forming around that area will be having high acidic content in it. A regular visitor to tajmahal would notice the change of color of the monument. previously it would be in white colour but now the colour has changed in to light yellow. The government of India is constantly enacting laws to prevent the factories from causing pollution in to the atmosphere which would directly cause a adverse change in to Tajmahal.

THE BASICS OF ACID RAIN

Nowadays every one has started to show interest towards minimizing the pollution being caused by them and also make others to work towards it. Now for my part let me educate at least some people in this world about the adverse effects that is being caused by these kinds of environmental hazards. Now lets see whatz ACID RAIN is about...............

The above two pictures shows the manner in which acid rain is being caused by industries around the world and by the automobiles.

WHAT IS ACID RAIN ??
Acid rain is nothing but the normal rain containing acid higher in content than it it should be of. So as we know a normal acid itself will be having high toxic and corroding substances in it. So if it mixes with the atmospheric water molecules the resultant will be "ACID RAIN". It has harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is mostly caused by human emissions of SULFUR and NITROGEN compounds which react in the atmosphere to produce acids. In recent years, many governments have introduced laws to reduce these emissions.

WHAT IS GREEN HOUSE EFFECT ??
The greenhouse effect is the heating of the surface of a planet or moon due to the presence of an atmosphere containing gases that absorb and emit infrared radiation, which include water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane, are almost transparent to solar radiation but strongly absorb and emit infrared radiation.The Earth receives energy from the Sun mostly in the form of visible light. The atmosphere is almost transparent to visible light, so that about 50% of the sun's energy reaches the Earth and is absorbed by the surface. Like all bodies with a temperature above absolute zero the Earth's surface radiates energy in the infrared range. Greenhouse gases are not transparent to infrared radiation so they absorb it. Infrared radiation is absorbed from all directions and is passed as heat to all gases in the atmosphere. The atmosphere also radiates in the infrared range (because of its temperature, in the same way the Earth's surface does) and does so in all directions. The surface and lower atmosphere are warmed because of the greenhouse gases, making our life on earth possible.

FROM WHAT DOES ACID RAIN FORMS ??

(a) Wet deposition

This picture shows you how the acid has been deposited over the rocks around the world due to acid rain. This picture also indicates a form of wet deposit of acid rain.

Wet deposition of acids occurs when any form of precipitation (rain, snow, etc.) removes acids from the atmosphere and delivers it to the Earth's surface. This can result from the deposition of acids produced in the raindrops (see aqueous phase chemistry above) or by the precipitation removing the acids either in clouds or below clouds. Wet removal of both gases and aerosols are both of importance for wet deposition.

(b)Dry deposition

As you see these pictures you can understand the way in which the today automobiles are combining its hands with industries causing pollution and acting as a huge source of dry acid deposition.
Dry deposition occurs in the absence of precipitation. This can be responsible for as much as 20 to 60% of total acid deposition.

ACID RAIN EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT

ACID RAIN EFFECT ON DRINKING( AQUATIC) AND LAND ANIMALS

Some people may wonder how this acid rain is affecting normal drinking water and aquatic life. They should consider the basic cycle in which the water formation is taking place. Since acid molecules can easily join water molecules they simply move with water ( vaporising, evaporating, condensing) so its not visible easily but can be felt when consumed, they have a corroding effect on which its applied.

Know the basics about ACID RAIN related terms

pH


This image makes you to know how various liquids are classified according to their pH values. This picture also informs the range in which acid and base are being classified.

pH literally means PERCENTAGE OF HYDROGEN.



It's the measure of the acidity or basicity of a solution. Normally in engineering or in chemical field a important parameter on which scientists or engineers used to concentrate is about pH. Higher the pH lower the acidic content it has in it, lower the pH value higher the acidic value it has in it.

Surface waters and aquatic animals

Both the lower pH and higher aluminum concentrations in surface water that occur as a result of acid rain can cause damage to fish and other aquatic animals. At pHs lower than 5 most fish eggs will not hatch and lower pHs can kill adult fish. As lakes and rivers become more acidic biodiversity is reduced.

This image in the left is taken in a field which is completely destroyed due to acid rain and also we cannot use this land for cultivation or for human habitation, since it has toxic content in it.

Almost everybody has heard about acid rain and knows that it is something bad. But what exactly is it? What are its effects on plants, animals, human beings, and what can be done to solve this problem?

As you read newspapers you may notice that many fish or aquatic lives have been destroyed due to the acidic level in it or may be due to pollution, those things are due to the high acidic content in it.

The image shown here shows how acid is being mixed with the consumable water reservoir and how it is affecting human life. The foam that is being formed(shown in figure) is due to mixing of acid and normal water.

The term acid rain does not convey the true nature of the problem and therefore scientists use the term "acid depositions". This is because the acid which has formed due to pollution may return to the earth as a solid or a gas and not just as rain. Depending upon the climatic conditions it could also come down as rain, fog, or snow, and in the wet form it is known as "acid precipitation".