Acid Rain

Acid rain is the deposition of dry (acidifying gases and particles) and wet (snow, rain, fog, sleet, dew or cloud water) acidic components. Acid rain has many negative effects in the world including harm to wildlife, humans, trees, agriculture, and even architecture. If pollution, the major cause of acid rain, were reduced, the amount of acid rain would decrease significantly.

Acid rain is formed when the acids from combustion are released into the atmosphere. During combustion, nitric oxides and sulfur dioxides are converted into nitric acid and sulfuric acid. The more harmful of these two acids is sulfuric acid. These are then released into the atmosphere and it falls back to the earth in the form of precipitation. The most common substance in acid rain is carbon dioxide. Acid rain is caused by industrialization. Factories and power plants release nitric oxides and sulfur dioxides, which are the cause of acid rain. In its gas phase, sulfur dioxide becomes oxidized through a reaction with the hydroxyl radical. The hydroxyl radical is the neutral form of the hydroxide ion. Acid rain is not always in the form of rain. It can occur as rain, snow, sleet, ice, fog, hail, etc. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). Even if there is a new form of precipitation, the acids could still attach and it would become acid precipitation. Sulfur gases enter the atmosphere from natural sources in both the ocean and land. Sea spray delivers sulfates into the atmosphere. Volcanoes release both hydrogen sulfide and sulfur oxides. When evaporated water condenses, the nitric oxides and sulfur dioxides attach to the water molecules and then fall with the precipitation. Acid rain would not completely go away if pollution from humans stopped, but it wou...

... middle of paper ...

...ent. In order to reduce the amount of the acid precipitation, the amount of pollution needs to be reduced. Some ways that pollution can be reduced is by using cleaner fuel, taking public transportation, walking, or bicycling to places. Acid rain effects so many things in the environment, and it can also lead to making certain species extinct.

http://acidrain.pbworks.com/w/page/1319111/Effects%20on%20Architecture http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/resource-guide-to-toxic-acid-rain.htm http://www.jeb.co.in/journal_issues/200801_jan08/paper_02.pdf http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/effects/surface_water.html http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/1139/Acid-Rain-EFFECTS-ACID-RAIN-ON-OUR-ENVIRONMENT.html http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/education/site_students/beingdone.html Raven, Peter H., Linda R. Berg, and David M. Hassenzahl. Environment. 7th ed. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2010. Print.