the trout became cannibals. It is believed this is due to the fact that the minnow was nearly extinct. At a pH of 5.6 the external skeletons of crayfish softened and they were soon infected with parasites, and there eggs were destroyed by fungi. When the pH went down to 5.1 they were almost gone. By the end of the experiment none of the major species had survived the trials of the acid. The next experiment conducted by the scientists was to try and bring the lake back to life. They cut in half the amount of acid that they dumped to simulate a large scale cleanup. Soon again the cuckers and minnows began to reproduce again. The lake eventually did come back; to a certain extent; back to life. THE NEW THEORY: A scientist in Norway had a problem believing that it was the acid rain on it's own that was affecting the lakes in such a deadly way. This scientist was Dr Rosenqvist. "Why is it that during heavy rain, the swollen rivers can be up to fifteen times more acid than the rain? It cannot be the rain alone that is doing it, can it?" Many scientist shunned him for this however they could not come up with a better answer. Soon the scientists were forced to accept this theory. Sulfuric acid is composed of two parts, know as ions. The hydrogen ion is what make a substance acid. The other ion is sulphate. When there are more hydrogen ions then a substance is acid. It is this sulphate ion that we are interested in. When the rain causes rivers to overboard onto the banks the river water passes through the soil. Since the industrial revolution in britain there has been an increasing amount of sulphur in the soil. In the river there is not enough sulphur for the acid to react in great quantities. However in the soil there is a great collection of sulphur to aid the reaction. When it joins the water the pH becomes much lower. This is the most deadly effect of acid rain on our water!!! The water itself does not contain enough s...
