Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is planning to set up a ₹40,000-crore petrochemicals plant at Rasayani in Raigad District of Maharashtra. BPCL to manufacture polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene at this plant. The company also plans to shift its LPG bottling plant, storage facilities and bitumen plant to Rasayani, 60 km away from its Mumbai plant.

• Ethiopia's parliament has appointed the country's first female President, Sahle-Work Zewde.
• India cricket captain Virat Kohli became the fastest batsman to reach 10,000 one-day international runs.
• Japanese-born Marine biologist Osamu Shimomura, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry, passed away on 24 October 2018.

The 2019 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships will be held in the North Korean capital Pyongyang. At the Asian Games weightlifting in Jakarta, which North Korea has dominated winning seven golds. The Asian Weightlifting Federation and North Korea's Sports Minister Kim Il Guk signed an agreement for North Korea to hold the championships from October 27, 2019.

'The Tall Man Biju Patnaik' is a book authored by Sundar Ganesan. The book was released on January 27, 2018.

• Anshu Jamsenpa is the first woman to reach the peak of Mount Everest twice in a week.
• She is an Indian mountaineer.
• She was the first one to reach the peak of Mount Everest twice within 5 days that is also the fastest by a woman.

• India recently launched 104 satellites in a single mission. Thus created a world record of launching the most satellites at one go.
• Of the 104, 101 are foreign satellites intended for the international customers.

Greenhouse effect

• It occurs due to the increase in the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
• It absorbs the solar rays and energy of the sun due to which the temperature on the earth increases and natures balance gets disturbed
• Our vehicles and industries are continuously increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

Global Warming

• Increase in average temperature of the earth surface due to the greenhouse effect is called global warming
• It also refers to the increase in average temperature of the air and sea at earth's surface

Green House Gases (GHG):

The major greenhouse gases are

• Water vapour - causes about 36% - 70% of the greenhouse effect
• Carbon dioxide (CO₂) which causes 9 - 26%
• Methane (CH₄) causes 4 - 9% and ozone (O₃)

So Ethane is not a greenhouse gas

When the quantity of acids in the raining water is more than the average, then such rain is called 'Acid rain'.

We are aware that normally rainwater has a pH of 5.6.  When the pH of the rainwater drops below 5.6, it is called acid rain.

Acid rain refers to the ways in which acid from the atmosphere is deposited on the earth’s surface. Oxides of nitrogen and sulphur which are acidic in nature can be blown by wind along with solid particles in the atmosphere and finally settle down either on the ground as dry deposition or in water, fog and snow as wet deposition.

Acid rain is a byproduct of a variety of human activities that emit the oxides of sulphur and nitrogen in the atmosphere. As mentioned earlier, burning of fossil fuels (which contain sulphur and nitrogenous matter) such as coal and oil in power stations and furnaces or petrol and diesel in motor engines produce sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

SO₂ and NO₂ after oxidation and reaction with water are major contributors to acid rain because polluted air usually contains particulate matter that catalyses the oxidation.

2SO₂ (g) + O₂ (g) + 2H₂O (l) → 2H₂SO₄ (aq)

4NO₂ (g) + O₂ (g)+ 2H₂O (l) → 4HNO₃ (aq)

The bad effects of acid rain

• When acid rain falls and flows as groundwater to reach rivers, lakes etc, it affects plants and animal life in the aquatic ecosystem
• Acid rain is harmful to agriculture, trees and plants as it dissolves and washes away nutrients needed for their growth
• It causes respiratory ailments in human beings and animal
• It may also cause corrosion in many buildings bridges, monuments, fencing etc
• It causes irritation in the eyes and skin of human beings
• This rain reduces the lustre of the metals too
• Acid rain damages buildings and other structures made of stone or metal
• The Taj Mahal in India has been affected by acid rain

Microsoft Word is a powerful word processing program that allows you to create and enhance a wide range of documents quickly and easily.

Word Editing Shortcuts

The relationship for conversion from one temperature scale to the other is: