Testing Ottawa's downtown core’s snow acidity vs. Ottawa's greenbelt’s snow acidity

We wanted to test to see if the acidity of snow can be increased by car emissions. We decided to collect snow from high traffic areas of Ottawa and low traffic areas of Ottawa and compare them to see if car emissions really do affects the acidity of the snow. Morgan and I collected thirty samples of snow from the high traffic area of Bank Street. Yuchan and Sara collected thirty samples from the low traffic suburban area along the greenbelt. We then tested these samples for acidity and graphed the data to compare it. 

maps of the areas in which the snow samples were collected

 map of low traffic area

 map of high traffic area

The red line represents the acidity levels of the snow in the high traffic areas of Bank Street and the blue represents the low traffic area along the Greenbelt.

Ottawa's downtown core’s snow acidity vs. Ottawa's greenbelt’s snow acidity

The numbers on the vertical axis represents the pH level of each sample. Each category represents a snow sample. The red line is the data from the high traffic area and the blue line is from the low traffic area.

Hypothesis as to why the acidity was higher in the low traffic area

            Magnesium is a component of milk of magnesia, often used medicinally to treat acid in the digestive system. Sodium chloride is often used in pools as a buffer. Both of these are present in Ottawa’s deicing salt and sand and could act as a buffer for the acidity in the snow. Especially since deicing salts and sands are used more often in high traffic areas. This could explain the why pH of the snow of Ottawa’s downtown is far more basic than that of the Greenbelt.

Even though our data did not end up supporting our hypothesis is it is still important to reduce the use of cars or at least the quantity in which they pollute. Just because our data didn’t point to the direct link between automobile use and acid snow does not mean there isn’t one. Therefore it is important to reduce our automobile use. Public transportation is a good way to reduce the amount in which we use cars. Also choosing green transportation like bicycles and even walking can reduce pollution. Scientists are finding alternatives for fuel. The use of alternative fuels, such as biodiesel and ethanol, for light duty CI engines to approach the target of ultra low NOx and PM emissions is currently being studied. Recently the interest in the butanol as a viable alternative either single or blended with conventional based fuels both to cut the demand for fossil fuel and to reduce emissions of particulate matter without significantly increasing in NOx is growing. Also municipalities can reduce car emissions through urban planning techniques such as traffic calming initiatives, pedestrian walkways, decreasing parking availabilities, improving public transportation and even increasing taxes based on number of cars owned by an individual.

Merola, S. S., Tornatore, C., Iannuzzi, S. E., Marchitto, L., & Valentino, G. (2014).     Combustion process investigation in a high speed diesel engine fuelled with n-butanol diesel blend by conventional methods and optical diagnostics. Renewable Energy, 64, 225-237.