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

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.