Section Fourteen
MISCELLANEOUS
89    ACID RAIN AND THE SPACESHIP EARTH
Nolan A. Curry, Consultant
Troy, New York 12180
INTRODUCTION
The planet earth is a spaceship, orbiting endlessly around the sun. Its orbit is controlled by its speed
and by the mutual attractions of the sun and other orbiting bodies. At present, no adjustment of speed
or of direction is required.
However, food supply for an indefinite voyage requires recycling of essential atoms. An essential
atom is one whose absence causes low or zero growth, abnormal growth or plant death. No other
element can be substituted for it. Atoms vary in combinations from raw materials to finished plants
and back to raw materials again.
In nature, only plants can take simple inorganic molecules containing atoms essential to plants and
reform them into the large complex molecules. These form the plant structure.
The next part of the cycle involves the use of the plant as food. The complex molecules are broken
up, to form the simple inorganic molecules usable as nutrients by plants. This is done by animal
digestion, by biodegradation, by oxidation, or by a combination of two or more processes. In the
process, energy is released.
An understanding of the final products is important. Four of the essential nutrients (carbon,
hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur) form gases when combined with the fifth (oxygen). These gases escape
into the atmosphere. The other ten essential nutrients (calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus,
iron, manganese, copper, zinc, boron, and molybdenum) are also united with oxygen. These form
solids in the residual ashes. These fifteen essential nutrients must be re-assembled in the required
proportions to generate plant growth.
FORMATION OF ACID RAIN
Acid rain is the name given to the condensing water vapor and its absorbed oxides of nitrogen, of
carbon, and of sulfur. The condensing is necessary to keep from excessive buildup in the air. It is also
necessary to return these nutrients to the earth's surface as raw materials for plants. These are in a
usable form. The very acidity is a part of nature's plan to release by ion exchange the solid nutrients.
These nutrients may occur as solid carbonate, as ions absorbed by natural zeolites or held by decaying
vegetation.
The naturally gaseous fertilizers have an excellent means of distribution. Wind circulation and
diffusion scatter the gases over the surface of the earth.The return to earth is difficult and sparse in
areas of little or no rainfall.
For the main components of acid rain to be converted into neutral growth, the other essential
nutrients must be supplied in the proper proportions. The following equation represents the overall
reaction:
Acid Rain + Nitrogen Fixation + Carbon Dioxide + energy (sun)
+ Plant Residuals gives Plant Growth + Oxygen
Unfortunately, the mode of transport is such that there is generally an excess or deficit of one or
more of the materials required in the equation. Any imbalance tends to reduce the potential growth.
The ratio of nitrogen to sulfur in acid rain is about one to two. In most plants the ratio is between
eight and fifteen to one. In the wilderness, the difference is provided by nitrogen fixation from the air.
The enzyme nitrogenase has been isolated from many biological nitrogen fixing systems. M. N.
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