The effect of increasing carbon dioxide level on rainwater: a numeric study of Nigeria

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) on rainwater. The design of this research includes the collection and analysis of recorded partial pressures of carbon dioxide (pCO2) at six air-space control stations in Nigeria. The already established equations for the chemistry of water constitute the theoretical framework of this investigation. These equations resolve into a mathematical model which connects the pCO2 and the activity index of hydrogen ions (pH) in rainwater. A cubic polynomial, which represents the predictive framework of this study, fits the average pCO2, while the model generates the corresponding pH. The obtained results show that the increasing levels of CO2 contribute to climate change and the proportionate decrease of pH in rainwater. An extrapolated result reveals that the acidity of rainwater will increase from 5.3% in 2000 to 93.7% by 2050.