Acid Rain

Hello, my name is Anastasia Wentz and I am an eighth grader at James W. Parker Middle School. I am currently taking Earth and Space science. In science we participate in a project called Creek Connections. Creek Connections consist of a science class that goes out every other Thursday to sample creek water from three different creeks.

One of the seven tests we take is pH. I found out by taking the pH of the creek water that the pH was between seven and eight. I learned in school and from further research that acid rains pH level is 5.6 or less.

This is a map of the United States pH level. Here in Pennsylvania we have a pH closer to four our pH is 4.3. That means in our country our region has the lowest pH.

Acid rain is acidic because of gases dissolved in rain water to form various acids. Acid rain is also acidic because of carbon dioxide( which comes from respiration and the burning of fossil fuels). We burn fossil fuels in order to get energy. Carbon is the main component of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels also contain small amounts of nitrogen and sulphur. Nitrogen and sulphur are not balanced reactions. When you have nitrogen, sulphur, and carbon and you burn oxygen(O2) you get NOx, SO4, and CO2. This process is called oxidation. When you have NOx and you add H2O(which is water) you get HNO3 which is nitric acid. When you add H2O with SO4 you get H2SO4 which is sulfuric acid. When you add H2O with CO2 you get H2CO3 which is carbonic acid. Even though there are small amounts of nitrogen and sulphur. Nitric and sulfuric are very strong mineral acids. Even though there is a large amount of carbon carbonic acid is very weak. This is the boiling process of carbonic acid.

When you boil H2CO3 (which is carbonic acid) and it converts to H20 and CO2 the gases our driven off and the pH becomes less acidic.

pH is the measure of how acidic a substance is. The pH scale ranges from one to fourteen one being very acidic and fourteen being very alkaline. With a neutral of seven such as distilled water.

My question is will boiling acid get rid of carbonic acid and make the pH go up.

My hypothesis is boiling acid rain will raise the pH if the pH is low due to carbonic acid.

Since September during eighth grade study resource which is a half an hour where students study for tests and do their homework I conducted my experiment at James W. Parker Middle School. I have been collecting rain and snowfall in a rain gauge. I go out everyday it rains and measure how much rain fell. Next I calibrate the pH tester in pH seven buffer solution so it calibrates at 7.0. Then I took the pH two times figure out the averages and record that in my notebook. Finally I boil the water for thirty seconds. I then take the pH two more times figure out the averages and record that in my notebook. During the winter time I take the pH of snow fall. The first thing I did was melt the snow. Next I collaborate the pH tester in pH seven buffer solution so it collaborates at 7.0. Then I took the pH two times figure out the averages and record that in my notebook. Finally I boiled the water for thirty seconds. I then took the pH two more times figured out the averages and recorded that in my notebook.

I did an experiment with distilled water to test two things. I wanted to show that blowing my breath through a straw causes carbon dioxide and the carbon dioxide becomes carbonic acid which makes the pH go down. I also wanted to prove that I could raise the pH by boiling the distilled water for thirty seconds because the the pH was low do to carbonic acid. H2O + CO2 ( my breath) -----> H2CO3 (pH go down). H2CO3 -----> (boiling) H2O + CO2 ( pH goes up). The first thing I did was took the pH of distilled water. Then using a straw I blew my breath through the straw making bubbles for five minutes. After the timer went of I took the pH of bubbling for five minutes. I then boiled the water for thirty second because that is what I did with my experiment with rain and snow fall. After the thirty seconds were up I took the pH one last time. I repeated this process four times. These are my results of distilled water.

The y axis indicates the pH levels. The x axis indicates the trials. The red bar indicates the pH level of distilled water, the blue bar indicates bubbling for five minutes, and the yellow bar indicates boiling for thirty seconds. Each time I took the pH of distilled I had a neutral of seven all four times. When I made bubbles for five minutes the first trial I got a pH of 4.8, the second trial a pH of 4.6, the third trial of a pH of 5.0, and the fourth trial a pH of 5.0. Then by boiling the water for thirty seconds all four times I was able to raise the pH.

These are my results of rainfall.

The y axis indicates the pH level and the x axis indicates the dates. The red bar indicates the pH level before boiling and the blue bar indicates the pH level after boiling.

Two out of the thirteen times I did this experiment I was only able to raise the pH two times. That was on September thirteenth the pH went from 5.4 to 5.6. Then again on October fifth the ph went from 4.0 to 4.3. Besides those two times the pH level before boiling was always hire then the pH level after boiling, or the pH level stayed the same. Three times I had a pH of 4.0 that means the pH was very acidic. I could not boil on October fourth because we lost electricity at James W. Parker Middle School.

These are my results of snowfall.

The axis and the bars are the same as the rainfall graph. Out of the seven times I did the experiment with snowfall I was not able to raise the pH by boiling the water for thirty seconds. The pH level before boiling was always higher than the pH level after boiling, or the pH levels stayed the same. I was very surprised by the results I got with the snowfall event. I had pH levels that were neutral low sevens high sixes. I don’t know why the pH was so high but those were the results I got. The highest pH level was 7.1 and the lowest pH level was 6.8.

In conclusion I was able to raise the pH with distilled water because the pH was low due to carbonic acid. I was not able to raise the pH with rain and snow fall because the acidity wasn’t low due to carbonic acid. The acidity was probably due to very strong mineral acids.