Acid Rain

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Acid Rain

Acid Rain
(The Environmental Effects)
My first question is , “What is Acid Rain?” You hear about it all the time in the news and it is very important to the earth’s ecosystem. In simple terms, acid rain is rain that is more acidic than normal. All objects in nature have a certain level of acicicity but acid rain has too much acid in it. Acid rain is a complicated problem, caused by air pollution. Acid rain's spread and damage involves weather, chemistry, soil, and the life cycles of plants and animals on the land and from acid rain in the water.
Acidity is measured using a pH scale, with the number 7 being neutral. Therefore, a body with a pH value of less than 7 is acidic. On the other hand, a value greater than 7 is basic. The pH of 5.6 has been used as the baseline in identifying acid rain, although this value is controversial, therefore, acid ran is any rainfall that has an acidity level above what is expected in non-polluted rainfall. Any precipitation that has a pH value of less than 5.6 is considered to be acid precipitation.
Readings of pH 2.4--as acidic as vinegar--were recorded during storms in New England. During one particularly acid summer storm, rain falling on a lime-green automobile leached away the yellow in the green paint, leaving blue raindrop shaped spots on the car.
Scientists have found that pollution in the air from the burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of acid rain. The major chemicals in air that help to create acid rain are sulfur dioxide, known as (SO2), and nitrogen oxides, known as (NOx). Acid rain is formed high in the clouds where sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides react with water, oxygen, and oxidants. This lethal mixture creates a mild solution of sulfuric acid and nitric acid. Sunlight often increases the speed at which the reaction occur. Rainwater, snow, fog, and other forms of precipitation containing these new solutions of sulfuric and nitric acids fall to earth as acid rain.
Acid rain does not make up all of the acidity that falls back to earth from pollutants. Only half of the acidity in the air falls back to earth through dry deposition as gases and dry particles. The wind blows and then these acidic grains are blown onto buildings, cars, homes, and trees. In some cases, these particles can eat away the objects which they land on. Dry deposited gases are sometimes washed from trees and other surfaces by rainstorms. When this occurs, the runoff water adds the new acids to the acid rain, making a...

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