Category Science

               Nature, like a mother, provides us with the right things in the right measure. The living conditions on Earth are favourable and conducive to our existence and growth. However, these life-supporting elements are so delicately arranged that any improper human or other intervention can put things in disarray. If the climate changes drastically, our existence will be at risk.

               Climate change is a reality today. Around the world, change in climatic conditions is posing potential threat to life. The sea levels are rising, and Arctic ice is melting. More intense hurricanes are approaching our coastlines.

               Warmer temperatures have led to more intense rainfall in some areas. This can cause flooding. Higher temperatures cause droughts in some areas of the world, causing a decline in crop productivity. This may lead to food shortage.

               Heat waves have become common today. More living species are being endangered because of the increasing heat. Soon global warming will threaten our very existence.

               Heat in summer can be troublesome. We resort to fans or air conditioners to cool us down. However, when the season changes, we often forget about the inconvenience by heat. Our planet, however, is facing a far larger problem. The fact that our planet is slowly heating up over the years has been ringing alarm bells in the science fraternity for a long time now.

               The process of the earth’s warming up and rise in temperature is known as global warming. This happens when there is an increase in the production of gases like carbon dioxide, water vapour, nitrous oxide and methane, which are known as greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases trap heat and light from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere. This trapped heat, in turn, increases the temperature and causes global warming.

               It is matter of great concern that since the beginning of the 20th century the average temperatures of the earth have risen by 0.8 degrees Celsius. Global warming hurts people, animals and plants. In fact, many organisms cannot take the change; and therefore, they die out.

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             Children generally love to play in the rain. Rainwater refreshes our body and invigorates our spirits. We think that rain water is probably the purest water as it comes from above and remains unpolluted by soil and other polluting agents. We even harvest rainwater. However, what if the rainwater is polluted?

             Acid rain is one of the most widespread forms of pollution. To put it simply, acid rain is rain that has a higher amount of acid in it than what is normal. It is a fact that the acidity in the rainwater in parts of Europe and North America has dramatically increased over the past few decades. It is now common in many places for rain to be ten to seventy times more acidic than unpolluted rain.

             Acid rain is due to smoke and gases that factories and cars that run on fossil fuels give off. When these fuels are burned to produce energy, the sulphur that is present in the fuel combines with oxygen and becomes sulphur dioxide. Some of the nitrogen in the air becomes nitrogen oxide. These pollutants go into the atmosphere, and become acid. Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are also produced when coal is burnt for fuel.

             Acid rain destroys trees, kills fish in lakes, harms wildlife and eats away the stonework in buildings. It also brings about certain health conditions such as asthma, headaches, throat aches and coughs.