| |
Answer:
Dr.Toru Ozeki kindly answered this question.
The answer is "it depends on which aspect of acid rain
you wish to study".
-
The most authoritative method (the
method that no one will dispute) is to obtain a standard sample of
artificial acid rain available from
NIST (National
Institute of Standards and Technology) , however, it is moderately
expensive.
-
 There is a practical method: Rain in
certain areas is collected during a certain period, for example, a
month, and the collected rain is regarded as "sample" in that area.
You can collect rain with simple equipment
(see picture on right.)
You ought to think carefully, if you
intend to make artificial acid rain from chemicals.
"Acid rain" indicates:
-
Rain that became acidic because a contaminant in the air was mixed with
it.
-
Acidic rain which causes adverse effects to plants and buildings,
etc.
Therefore, the meaning of acid rain varies according to what you want
to study.
If you focus on the proton which leads to acid
rain:
-
In this case, the kind of acid does not
matter - it may be all right to use sulfuric acid , hydrochloric acid,
or nitric acid. However, it is preferable to use sulfuric acid since
it occurs more commonly in rain than hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. In my case, I used sulfuric acid to
study "how to measure the pH
of dilute solutions such as acid rain"
Do not
use a buffered acid,
such as acetic acid.
If you study damage to plants and
buildings from acid rain:
-
In this case, you should consider
the anions, the counter-ions of
the protons as well. Chloride ion, for example, promotes
metal corrosion since it
makes a complex with many metal ions. In addition, it is reported that NOx, SOx,
and H2O2 in air rather than acid itself damages leaf stoma.
Conclusion
Alternative samples for acid rain depend on what aspects of acid
rain you want to study.
Acknowledgement
Our thanks to Dr.Toru Ozeki
He is actually studying acid rain. There are detailed explanations
about acid rain in his website.
This article is translated by Chemistryquestion.com from the original article in Chemistryquestion.jp. Please let us know if you find any errors. |
|
