Acid Rain :: essays research papers

ACID RAIN When fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline, and fuel oils are burned, they emit oxides of sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen into the air. These oxides combine with moisture in the air to form sulfuric acid, carbonic acid, and nitric acid. When it rains or snows, these acids are brought to Earth in what is called acid rain. During the course of the 20th century, the acidity of the air and acid rain have come to be recognized as a leading threat to the stability and quality of the Earth's environment. Most of this acidity is produced in the industrialized nations of the Northern Hemisphere--the United States, Canada, Japan, and most of the countries of Eastern and Western Europe. The effects of acid rain can be devastating to many forms of life, including human life. Its effects can be most vividly seen, however, in lakes, rivers, and streams and on vegetation. Acidity in water kills virtually all life forms. By the early 1990s tens of thousands of lakes had been destroyed by acid rain. The problem has been most severe in Norway, Sweden, and Canada. The threat posed by acid rain is not limited by geographic boundaries, for prevailing winds carry the pollutants around the globe. For example, much research supports the conclusion that pollution from coal-powered electric generating stations in the midwestern United States is the ultimate cause of the severe acid-rain problem in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. Nor are the destructive effects of acid rain limited to the natural environment. Structures made of stone, metal, and cement have also been damaged or destroyed. Some of the world's great monuments, including the cathedrals of Europe and the Colosseum in Rome, have shown signs of deterioration caused by acid rain. Scientists use what is called the pH factor to measure the acidity or alkalinity of liquid solutions. On a scale from 0 to 14, the number 0 represents the highest level of acid and 14 the most basic or alkaline. A solution of distilled water containing neither acids nor alkalies, or bases, is designated 7, or neutral. If the pH level of rain falls below 5.5, the rain is considered acidic. Rainfalls in the eastern United States and in Western Europe often range

Homeless essay Essay

Most homeless people are responsible for their own problems. Do you agree? In this essay I will be pointed out facts about the homeless people in London and I will be analysing if it is there fault for being homeless or our fault. There are thousands of people who roam around the streets of London looking for a patch to sleep and somewhere to eat. Children and adults leave there houses because of family problems and many more scenarios. There are many people living around the streets of London and the world. They face problems that force them to leave there home and the majority of the time it is because of money problems and family problems. They leave houses to travel the streets and live in alleyways and face the whether which can turn bad in the winter. The question that I will investigate is it their fault that there homeless. The majority of homeless people are homeless because it has been their fault. Their problems that they have faced have pushed them to leave home and loose any luxuries they had. Any homeless people do not even try to gain a job to support them in any way. Many people think that they should get a job as many do have some qualifications that can help them. This is a sign of being lazy which cannot benefit them in any way and they deserve to be homeless if they act in this way. They clanger ways to get moneys from people by begging in crowded areas and doing an act to endure people to give money. This is the easy route out and if homeless people do this then no simperfy should be given. More than three hundred thousand was given to beggars over a period of two months n London and was spent on drugs and alcohol. This is a good example of why no money should be given to beggars, as they will only harm themselves and people around them. Many homeless people by the drugs because they fell that they have nothing and drugs might be a way to get a boost to survive day-to-day life on the streets. Many homeless people refuse shelter because they think that they can get by without them. This is a sign of being shellfish and people shouldn’t tolerate it. Many immigrants flee to the UK because they think that it is their escape route out of their country because of poverty or war. They come into this country and such onto our money that has been give. They stay homeless for a while and as soon as a chance comes they will take it. They should get out and get a job because it will help them and maybe their future family. Many homeless people who have no options available to them do drastic things to gain some money to support them for the day or week. Many professional all beggars get eighty pounds a day, which is tax-free. This is ridiculous as it is more than people get in a day for going out and doing work. This is a prime example as to why money shouldn’t be given to them. Some homeless people who want to get out of the situation cannot because they are too lazy to find out information about numbers to call for help such as childline and social services. There is an magazine that can help the homeless it is called the big issue and it aim to help the homeless by telling them what to do and numbers to call. It is a big help for people who want to get out of the situation. It is a free paper and could get homeless people back on a property. I think that some homeless people are to blame themselves, as they do not want help of any sort. In this part of the investigation I will be analysing the support side to this argument. There is another side to which I think that is to be announced about homeless people. The things that have happened to them are not their fault. This problem could of happened to anyone. This is why there are many charities open to help the homeless who will provide food and a shelter for them to sleep in. the big issue is a big help. Keith smith at thebig issue agrees that it is not fair to tell people that they mustn’t give money to beggars. The government has made a good contribution to this case, as ninety two per cent of families are now living in tempary accommodation in a good maintained house with a bath, bedrooms and living room. The government hopes to get as many homeless people into homes by 2010. This is a great achievement for the people who want to move home. There are many groups that go into the streets and provide food and shelter to the homeless. People should give money to charities because it will have more of an effect as if you give it to the homeless in person they could just by drugs or alcohol with it. I think in my judgement that homeless people are not to blame, as they cannot help was has happened to them. They need help, which is provided by different services. A small amount of money is all that is needed to support them. With a new priminister in power I think that he will tackle the problem in a quick way. He could bring the time from 2010 to now which could help the homeless even more.

Aesthetics of Knowledge Maps Essay

If â€Å"a picture is worth a thousand words†, what is the worth of each word? Does the value of the aesthetic decrease through this transition? The human brain is trained to believe that there is a word to describe aesthetic, being able to put a label or description on all of this information. Why must we even classify a photo’s meaning through the written language? Visual information cannot be fully described through language or non-visual semiotic systems, because it is irreducible. Information is an artistic and aesthetic concept; to understand our world we must include the notion of information and how we as humans can make a representation of the world in our minds. Visual artifacts contain information. We store information visually, we analyze information through a visual means, and we understand information better when it is represented visually. The word ‘tree’ represents a tree as an aesthetic, an encompassing notion versus a specific image of a s ingular tree. There is a broader spectrum for understanding when something is visual. Depending of what language you speak, the framework of our semantic foundation, the meaning of a word varies drastically. People that speak different languages all see something in a photograph or painting and could tell you what it is they see, but the differences in our semantic thinking, language of words classifying information, will make it different. When a human is in early development stages as a child, the first initial way to communicate for them is visual information. Before children learn to read and write they draw, watch television, look at picture books. Then they are given teachings of communicating visuals to word. During the Paleolithic Period, 40,000–8,000 BCE, nomadic people painted in caves as a wondrous early way of communication, sharing information with others. An incredible example is the Hall of Bulls in the Lasceux Caves located in France in 15,000 BCE. These humans could not read or write and yet the visual information they represented with these paintings is breathtaking. They didn’t need 1,000 words to describe what they saw until the information age. Stories throughout time have been told naturally with visual information. Information has a history, yet unlike regular history, it is unbound by Euclidian space. It is not a physical being that has but one description. However, now information is all put into word. Without an extensive vocabulary there is little chance you could ever be able to express notions as clearly as if you were to simply communicate with visuals. Reliance on visual’s word to form the structure of all of our communication means thinking; visualizing information and mapping thought processes. Knowledge deals with matter of facts; laws of nature and society deal with energy processes and determine knowledge and facts. Information is prior to laws and knowledge; information is structured, relational, stored and transmitted, aesthetic. Information is configurations, organization and formalization. Mapping concepts structures our knowledge and makes us able to generate hypotheses. The organization of thoughts and concepts in this way brings the opportunity of serendipitously learning.