Nelson Science Perspectives 10
1st Edition
ISBN: 9780176355289
Textbook solutions
All Solutions
Section 7-7: Explore an Issue Critically
Exercise 1
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a.
Precipitation is the fall of water (in any state) from the skies. It is a general term used for rain, snow and hails. Fossil fuel emissions add sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. This dissolve in atmospheric moisture to form sulfuric acid. This acid therefore becomes a constituent of any state of water in the clouds and falls to the ground as acid precipitation.
Precipitation is the fall of water (in any state) from the skies. It is a general term used for rain, snow and hails. Fossil fuel emissions add sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. This dissolve in atmospheric moisture to form sulfuric acid. This acid therefore becomes a constituent of any state of water in the clouds and falls to the ground as acid precipitation.
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b. A buffer solution is solution that tends to resist a change in its pH. The buffering capacity of a solution is its ability to resist this change in terms of number of moles of acid or bases required to change its pH by one unit. Mathematically it is given by the formula:
$$
text{Buffering capacity}=dfrac{text{Number of moles of acid or base}}{text{change in pH}timestext{Volume of Buffer solution in litres}}
$$
Result
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Exercise 2
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a. Acid rain is rain water containing dissolved sulfuric acid in it. This sulfuric acid is formed by the dissolving of sulfur dioxide (from the combustion of fossil fuels) in atmospheric moisture and water vapor in the clouds. Acid precipitation contains the same sulfuric acid dissolved in it but the form in which it falls from the clouds is different. The word acid rain only falls as rain while precipitation can be rain, snow or hails.
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b. Acid precipitation is also known as wet deposition because sulfuric acid becomes deposited on land due to this rain, hail, fog and snow. The medium of deposition is aqueous (dissolved in water) and hence the name wet.
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c. Dry deposition is acidic particles dispersion due to wind while wet deposition is due to water.
Exercise 3
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Fossil fuel emissions add sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. This dissolve in atmospheric moisture to form sulfuric acid. This acid therefore becomes a constituent of any state of water in the clouds and falls to the ground as acid rain.
Exercise 4
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a. Fossil fuel emissions add sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen in the atmosphere. These compounds when dissolved in water (atmospheric moisture) contribute to acid precipitation.
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b. Equation of sulfur dioxide conversion of sulfur trioxide:
$$
mathrm{2SO_{2(g)} + O_{2(g)} longrightarrow 2SO_{3(g)} }
$$
And dissolving of sulfur trioxide in water vapor to form sulfuric acid:
$$
mathrm{SO_{3(g)} + H_2O_{(l)} longrightarrow H_2SO_{4(aq)} }
$$
Result
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Click to see answers.
Exercise 5
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a. In 2004, less than $1%+2%approx3%$ of sulfur dioxide emissions came from transportation, while oxides of nitrogen formed $29%+22%=51%$ of these emissions.
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b. Modern cars are equipped with catalytic converters to convert the harmful oxides of nitrogen to nitrogen and oxygen. People should travel via public transport and not personal cars to reduce the number of vehicles on the road and therefore reduce these harmful emissions associated with combustion of fossil fuels in combustion engines.
Exercise 6
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a. Frogs are most tolerant of acidic conditions. They can even survive in environment of pH as low as 4.
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b. Snails are most intolerant of acidic conditions. They can not even survive in environment of pH as high as 5.5.
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a. Frogs.
b. Snails.
Exercise 7
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Acid precipitation is an environmental hazard. It has adverse effects on the environment. Acid precipitation on woodlands and farmlands destroy forests and crops and long term effects can even render the soil infertile and incapable of bearing vegetation and forests.
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Acid precipitation in rivers, seas and other water bodies adversely affects marine life causing many species to die out as the pH of the water bodies decreases.
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Acid precipitation erodes buildings, structures and stone monuments because of its acidic nature.
Exercise 8
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Acid precipitation is an environmental hazard. It has adverse effects on the environment. Acid precipitation on farmlands destroys crops and decreases their yields. Its long term effects can even render the soil infertile and incapable of bearing vegetation.
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Acid precipitation in rivers, seas and other water bodies adversely affects marine life causing many species to die out as the pH of the water bodies decreases. This means that species of edible fishes (and other seafood) reduce in both number and quantity. Lower number of edible sea species will mean that prices of seafood will increase.
Exercise 9
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Emission of sulfur dioxide reduced from $40%$ in 2000 to $38%$ by 2020 in the United States while in Canada it reduced from $53%$ to $21%$ for the same time duration.
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Emission of oxides of nitrogen reduced from little to none in 2000 to $47%$ by 2020 in the United States while in Canada it reduced from $17%$ to $39%$ for the same time duration.
Exercise 10
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Some of the lakes in Canada have shown an increase in pH implying that acid precipitation has reduced in the atmosphere.
Exercise 11
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a.
Balanced chemical equation:
$$
mathrm{CaO_{(s)} + H_2O_{(l)} longrightarrow Ca(OH)_{2(aq)} }
$$
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b. Calcium oxide reacts with the moisture in the soil (or water bodies) to form calcium hydroxide which is basic in nature and neutralizes the affect of acids in it.
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c. Using calcium oxide treatment to neutralize acid precipitation because they can only neutralize the acidic effects of precipitation for a certain time and quantity of acid. These get used up after a certain time and by the next season of precipitation, they need to be replenished to be effective again.
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d. A permanent solution to this problem will be to minimize the combustion of fossil fuels, to reduce acidic pollutants contributing to acid precipitation.
Exercise 12
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Fossil fuel combustion in any part of the world will contribute to addition of sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen in the common atmosphere of the planet earth. Therefore, it is essential to fight it at a global level because its effects are not localized but affects life of plants, animals, sea life, birds and human across the planet.
Exercise 13
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a. Lime stone is calcium carbonate, this in the presence of acid from acid precipitation reacts to form calcium sulfate, water and carbon dioxide, according to the equation:
$$
mathrm{CaCO_{3(s)} + H_2SO_{4(aq)} longrightarrow CaSO_{4(aq)}+ H_2O_{(l)}+CO_{2(g)} }
$$
The acid is neutralized and hence the pH of this lake is maintained. In the case of granite layered lake, this does not happen and the acid in acid precipitation only decreases the pH of the water of this lake.
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b. The lake with the lime stone layer will have a healthier aquatic environment as its pH is usually maintained around 7 as described above and therefore all species of this lake will continue to thrive in it.
Exercise 14
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The youngs or off-springs of any specie are weak and vulnerable to disease and even death if their environment is not favorable, therefore the population of young aquatic animals indicate that their environment is healthy even to sustain the population of its aquatic life.
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