Level: introductory
Reference: Robert Angus Smith, Air and Rain, the beginnings of a Chemical Climatology (London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1872)
Notes: Robert Angus Smith (1817-1884) was chief inspector of the alkali industry under the United Kingdom's Alkali Works Act of 1863. The Act, which was an early example of environmental regulation, set limits on hydrochloric acid gas emissions from alkali plants, and it established a system of inspectors to monitor and enforce the legislation. Some data gleaned from Smith's researches show acidic conditions indeed in the manufacturing centers of England and Scotland. The reliability of Smith's analyses has been called into question, some of his figures for sulfuric acid and ammonia labeled "beyond credibility." Later researchers in acid rain, however, find the figures quite credible, and point to middle 20th-century analyses (presumably more accurate) with comparable results. The pH scale had not yet been introduced in Smith's time.
Solutions: To download solutions, go to:
http://web.lemoyne.edu/giunta/classicalcs/smithacid.doc
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