In brief, acid rain is rain with pH values of less than 5.6. When dealing with acid rain one must study and understand the process of making Sulfuric acid. In this project we will take an in depth look into the production of sulfuric acid, some of its uses and the effects of it as a pollutant in our environment.

Sulfuric Acid Industry in Ontario

Among the many plants in Ontario where sulfuric acid is produced, there are three major plant locations that should be noted on account of their greater size. These are:

There are a number of factors which govern the location of each manufacturing plant. Some of these factors that have to be considered when deciding the location of a Sulfuric Acid plant are:

a. Whether there is ready access to raw materials;

b. Whether the location is close to major transportation routes;

c. Whether there is a suitable work force in the area for plant c

You will probably find that there aren't many aquatic living organisms in waters that are excessively basic or acidic. A high acidic or basic content in lakes kill fishes and other aquatic species. Prolonged exposure to acidic or excessively basic conditions can lead to reproductive failure and morphological aberration of fish. A lowered pH tends to neutralize toxic metals. The accumulation of such metals in fish contaminates food chains of which we are a part as these metals can make fish unfit for human consumption. Acidification of a lake causes a reduction of the production of phytoplankton (which is a primary producer) as well as in the productivity of the growth of many other aquatic plants. In acidic conditions, zooplankton species will probably becompletely eliminated. In addition, bacterial decomposition of dead matter is seriously retarded in acidified lake waters. Other effects of acidic conditions arean overfertilization of algae and other microscopic plant lifecausing algae blooms. Overgrowth of these consumes quickly most of the oxygen in water thus causing other life forms to die from oxygen starvation.

0.0443 mol/L x 8x1011 = 3.54 x 1010 mol of H2SO4 in water

a) The situation of pollution in the Great Lakes and process being used to start cleaning it up-comments: Everyday, roughly 3630 kilograms of toxic chemicals enter the lakes, nearby land and air. Pollution of the Great Lakes has become an increasingly serious problem. Just in Lake Ontario, hundreds of thousands of tons of contaminants have been deposited over the years. These include DDT, PCBs, mercury, dioxins and mirex, a pesticide. About 4.6 million people depend on Lake Ontario alone for drinking water. The environmental problem of greatest concern to Lake Ontario neighbours is water-discharged toxic chemicals and industrial air pollutants. Not only is this occurring in Lake Ontario but the other Great Lakes as well. The lakes probably have all these poisonous chemicals in them: salts drained from urban streets, coliform bacteria from the sewage civilization plus a selection of substances such as phosphorus, polychlorinated biphenyls and heavy metals. It is reported that the toxic chemicals in the Great Lakes basin are a health risk linked to brain damage, birth defects and cancer. All the predator species at the top of the food chain have shown health problems as a result of toxic chemicals building up in their bodies. Chemicals that exist in low levels in the air and water accumulate as they move up through the food chain. At present 35 million humans who live around the horridly polluted five Great Lakes face increasing health risks from environmental contaminants. Millions of people in the Great Lakes are exposed to hazardous chemicals. They drink them in the contaminated water, eat them concentrated in the flesh of the fish and breathe them in the air.

ii) The amount of base needed to neutralize the lake water is:

The final decision on where the sulfuric acid plant really involves a careful examination and a compromise among all of the factors that have been discussed above.

The pH is: No. mol of hydrogen ions = 0.0443 mol/L x 2

c) BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE KEY EVENTS IN THE U.S.-CANADA