What is acid rain

Acid rain damages buildings such as this one in Copola, Mexico. UCAR/NAME Acid rain is a general term used to describe different kinds of acidic air pollution. Although some acidic air pollutants return directly back to Earth, a lot of it returns in rain, snow, sleet, hail, mist, or fog, which is why we call it acid rain. How Does Acid Rain Form? When power plants, factories, and cars release pollution into the atmosphere, it contains chemicals known as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Sometimes, these chemicals fall directly back to the ground. This is called dry deposition. The rest of the time, they mix with water (moisture) in the air to form acids. Once these acids have formed, they can be transported long distances by the wind before being deposited in rain, snow, or hail. This is what we commonly call acid rain. How Does Acid Rain Impact the Earth? During the 1970s, scientists in Sweden and Norway began noticing that acid rain was damaging their trees and fresh water. Much of the acid rain was caused by pollution transported through the air from other countries, primarily the United Kingdom. After that, acid rain was understood to be an international problem. © 2020 UCAR with portions adapted from Windows to the Universe (© 2008 NESTA)

Acid rain may not be the hot-button issue that it once was, at least in the U.S. The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments helped greatly lower the levels of pollutants that turn rain more acidic. But acid rain still falls across the globe. And some of the gasses that cause acid rain also hasten climate change. What Is Acid Rain? It’s when water and oxygen in normal precipitation mix with compounds such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. The chemical reaction turns clean rain -- which is naturally acidic -- dangerously so. Scientists measure acidity on the pH scale from 0 to 14. Water with a pH of 7 is neutral. Battery acid is most acidic with a pH of 0. Liquid drain cleaner falls on the other end of the scale, called basic, with a pH of 14. Clean rain normally falls about 5.6 on the pH scale; acid rain falls below 4.5 pH. Acid rain comes in two forms: Wet. The compounds turn into acids in the atmosphere and fall down as rain, sleet, snow, fog, or hail. Dry. This is when compounds produce acids and float down to the ground as dust and gas. Future rains can spread them even more. You can also breathe it in. What Causes Acid Rain? Much of the acids originate from power plants that burn coal, oil, and other fossil fuel to generate electricity, as well as from exhaust from gasoline-powered vehicles. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can travel high into the atmosphere. When the emissions combine with precipitation, they turn into harmful sulfuric and nitric acid...

Acid rain typically consists of either nitric or sulfuric acids. It occurs when sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere. These chemicals then react with oxygen, water, and other chemicals to form nitric or sulfuric acid. The acid then combines with water or dust before falling to the ground. If it mixes with water and falls as rain, snow, fog, or hail, this is known as wet deposition. Acids can also directly land on surfaces or interact with chemicals to form larger particles. This is known as dry deposition. However, the leading cause of acid rain today is the burning of fossil fuels for human activities. The most common sources of acid rain are gas-powered vehicles, factories, and coal-fired power plants. Fossil-fuel powered electric power plants are responsible for two-thirds of sulfur dioxide emissions and one-fourth of nitrogen oxide emissions, according to the Acid rain can also harm forests. This is also partly thanks to the aluminum that the acid rain leaches from the soil, which can harm trees and other plants. Further, the rain removes nutrients that trees need from the soil. Acidic fog or clouds at higher elevations can strip trees of their leaves, which weakens them because they are less able to gain energy from the sun. All of this can make trees more vulnerable to insects, disease, and cold temperatures, according to At Hubbard Brook, scientists monitored the impact of acid rain on the forest, soil, and stream. What they found was t...

Acid rain is a form of air pollution. When coal and petroleum are burned in automobiles, electric power plants, and factories, they release certain harmful gases into the air. These gases combine with the oxygen and water in the air. When the water in the air comes down as rain, sleet, hail, or snow, it carries with it these gases. This is known as acid rain. Acid rain is very damaging to all life forms. Acid rain can pollute lakes and streams, killing the fish and other organisms that live in them. Acid rain also damages various kinds of vegetation, including farm crops and trees. In addition, acid rain corrodes, or wears away, surfaces of buildings and other structures. By the early 1990s tens of thousands of lakes had been destroyed by acid rain. The problem has been most severe in Norway, Sweden, and Canada. Damage from acid rain is not limited to the countries that produce the pollution. This is because winds carry the pollution around the globe. Despite much discussion between many countries, there is still no clear solution to the problem. The chief reason is that it is expensive to control the pollution. However, since the damage from acid rain to the environment is permanent, the environmental costs are greater.

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Main navigation • Open Events × Close Events • • • • • Open Projects × Close Projects • • • • • • Open Educational Resources × Close Educational Resources • • • • • • • Open Professional Learning × Close Professional Learning • • • • • Open Volunteer × Close Volunteer • • • • • Open Support Us × Close Support Us • • • • • Open About Us × Close About Us • • • • • • • • Search These days, if you click on a news website, chances are you’ll see an article on climate change. But a couple of decades ago, the headlines were different. People were very worried about something called acid rain. Acid rain is any precipitation that has an unusually low, or acidic, pH. Precipitation can include rain, snow and fog. Did you know? Although acid rain was first observed in England as early as the 1850s, the Canadian Government didn't officially recognize its existence until 1979. What is pH? A substance’s pH is the measurement of its dissolved positively charged hydrogen ions (H+) and negatively charged hydroxide ions (OH-). The pH of a substance is measured on a scale from 0 to 14. Substances that are closer to 0 on the pH scale are considered acidic. They have a very high concentration of dissolved H+ ions and a very low concentration of OH- ions. Substances that are closer to 14 on the pH scale are considered basic, or alkaline.They have a very low concentration of dissolved H+ ions and a very high concentration of OH- ions. A substance that sits at 7 on the pH scale is considered neutr...

julius fekete—iStock/Thinkstock During the 1970s and ’80s the phenomenon called The term acid rain is a popular expression for the more formal and scientific term acid deposition. Acid deposition includes more than just acid precipitation in the form of falling rain. Acid deposition can occur as 2) and nitrogen oxides (NO x; the combination of NO and NO 2) are the chemical compounds that are most responsible, produced in the U.S. mostly through the burning of coal by electrical utilities. Where industrial emissions are large and emission controls too weak to reduce SO 2 and NO x emissions, acid deposition will fall hours or days later, far downwind of power plants and other emission sources. In these areas, the pH of precipitation can average between 4.0 and 4.5 annually, and the pH of individual rainstorms can sometimes drop below 3.0. In addition, cloud water and fog in polluted areas may be many times more acidic than rain falling over the same region. If the precipitation falls in acid-sensitive areas—that is, areas without acid-neutralizing chemicals such as The acid rain problem in Europe and North America has largely abated because of stronger SO 2 and NO x emission controls, such as the 2 and NO x have increased. This same pattern can be observed in some of the quickly growing urban areas in Latin America and Africa, which has resulted in more acidic rain and other acid deposition falling both within and downwind of those regions.