Taking a Look at Acid Rain

Acid rain is rain that has become acidic, because of air pollutants in the atmosphere. Rain has a normal pH level of around 5-5.5 which is only slightly acidic. 7 on the pH scale is the neutral and anything below that is considered acidic. Acid rain has a pH level around 4 which is 10 times more acidic. Acid rain can fall in many different ways and has many effects on the environment.

Acid precipitation is a wide term that incorporates any type of precipitation with acidic parts, for example, sulfuric or nitric acid that tumble to the ground from the climate in wet or dry structures. This can incorporate into rain, snow, haze, hail or even clean that is acidic. Acid rain as numerous natural impacts, yet none is more prominent than its effect on lakes, streams, wetlands, and other amphibian situations.

Acid rain is rain that has been made acidic by certain pollutants in the air and has low pH levels that can harm the environment. It is a type of acid deposition that can appear in many forms such as, wet deposition, which can be rain, sleet snow or fog that is more acidic than normal, and dry deposition, where gases and dust particles become acidic. (Epa.gov) Acid deposition in wet and dry forms, falls on buildings, cars and trees and makes lakes acidic, which then leads to the danger of plant and animal life. Dry acid deposition though, can be inhaled by humans, which can then cause health problems. (Epa.gov)

The major greenhouse gas is water vapor. Then there is carbon dioxide, plus a few trace gases (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para4). Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere by natural processes and by human actions such as burning fossil fuels. Methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases are all emitted into the atmosphere by human activities (U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2010, Greenhouse Gas Overview section).

Acid rain can hurt the plants in the forest environment because when the plant start drinking the acid rain it makes the plants natural defense weaker. In doing that they are easier to die by diseases because they do not have much natural defense to protect them. It can also cause fires to the environment. Acid rain is known to take the nutrients out of soil killing trees, plants, and crops. With the low nutrients it does damage to the red spruce tree

Acid rain has a large concentration of hydrogen ions mainly coming from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. It could kill living organisms, damage buildings, and monuments.

Acid rain is created through discharges of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, which reacts with water molecules and creates an acid. Acid rain breaks down rock and soil with contact through the Earth’s atmosphere, which is also known as weathering (Washington University).

Acid rain is usually cause by a chemical reaction which begins when compounds like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen for instants which are released in to the atmosphere. The substances can rise very high thousands of feet in to the air. Were the substances mix and react with the water molecules, oxygen and other

Acid rain is a form of rain that contains nitric and sulfuric acid, with a pH of less than 7.0. Acid rain can weaken the

Acid rain has been a problem dating back to the 1800s, but it was not until the 1960s that attention was finally brought to the forefront of this problem. Acid rain is not just rain, it is also snow, fog, hail, and mist. Rain itself contains acid because it mixes with naturally occurring oxides in the air. According to Fact Sheet, unpolluted rain would have a pH level of between 5 and 6. When the air becomes polluted with nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide the acidity can increase to a pH level of 4 (p. 1). Rain with a pH below 5.6 is called acid rain (Hill & McCreary, p. 208). This low level causes many problems for our environment. Power plants, factories, car exhaust fumes and even natural pollutants all contribute to

Many of the acidic deposits that fall from earth from to the atmosphere can cause the pH of the water to change, making them have a higher acidity than desired. This process was named acid rain from the Scottish chemist, Robert Angus Smith who discovered this in the 19th century (Reed, 2014). Acid rain is commonly known as air pollution today causing many detrimental effects on the environment (Funk & Wagnalls, 2016). Based on the pH of the concentrated rainfall, acid precipitation begins to take place. Acid precipitation begins in the atmosphere since this is where most of the pollutants are being combined to create many of the acids that aid in the acidity of acid rain. Most of the pollutants come from the oxides, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrous oxides (N2O), which later on aid in the acidity of the rain fall (Funk & Wagnalls, 2016). By fully understanding the history and formation of acid rain through inorganic chemistry, scientists can extrapolate the data to help find solutions to decrease the pH concentrations of acid rain.

The environment around us is certainly acidic. Even though people often think the air around us is neutral, the atmosphere naturally contains acidic oxides of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur that can harm our environment greatly. These oxides can be produced naturally and industrially. Sulfur dioxide is produced when organic matter decomposes and forms hydrogen sulphide which then oxidises to the oxide: 2H2S (g) + 3O2 (g) 2SO2 (g) + 2H2O. The natural sources of sulfur dioxide are in volcanic gases, bushfires, sulfur rich geothermal hot springs releasing gases and the decomposition of organic matter. The industrial sources of sulfur dioxide such as in processing and burning of fossil fuels and extracting metals from sulfur rich ores such as smelting of galena for lead: 2PbS (s) + 3O2 (g) 2PbO (s) + 2SO2

Wet deposition has damageable effects on the ecological system such as lakes, rivers and oceans. When acid rain goes through soil, it drains aluminum from it and then flows into bodies of water. This

Causes of acid rain range from man-made to natural causes. Several man-made causes range from burning things, car exhaust fumes, smoking, burning off fossil fuels for power such as electricity. Natural causes of acid rain are chemicals such as sulfur dioxide being erupted from volcanoes. Acid rain has a major negative impact on the environment. According to HelpSaveNature, trees are greatly harmed from acid rain due to acid rain damaging the cuticles of leaves. In the prescience of acid rain, gas seeps into leaves where cuticle damaged has occurred. This gas takes the places of water in the photosynthesis process. Once this happens the plant cannot take in carbon dioxide and the plants starts dying. Acid rain contaminating sea water can cause harm to sea animals and potentially death. Sea animals dying and decomposing at the bottom of the sea from acid rain cause further damage

The category of Sulfur Oxides mostly consists of sulfur dioxide, SO2. Sulfur trioxide, SO3, does exist but it doesnt stay in our atmosphere. Sulfur trioxide is very reactant with moisture (H2O) and forms sulfuric acid, H2SO4, one of the substances in acid rain. Unlike the two prior groups, the sulfur oxides are predominately emitted by humans. However, a fair amount of SO2 is produced in the atmosphere. Hydrogen Sulfide, H2S, is produced by the decay of organic matter, and then rises to the atmosphere where it oxidizes