Acid Rain

Acid rain is very harmful to the environment. Acid rain damages everything over a period of time because it makes the living things in the environment die. Acid rain is mostly caused by human emissions of sulfur and nitrogen compounds which react in the atmosphere to produce acids. Normal rainwater has a pH of 5.6. When the pH level of rainwater goes below 5.6, it is considered acid rain. Distilled water, which contains no carbon dioxide, has a neutral pH of 7.

"Acid rain" is a popular term referring to the deposition of wet (rain, snow, sleet, fog and cloudwater, dew) and dry (acidifying particles and gases) acidic components. A more accurate term is “acid deposition”.

H2O (l) + CO2 (g) → H2CO3 (aq) Carbonic acid then can ionize in water forming low concentrations of hydronium and carbonate ions: 2 H2O (l) + H2CO3 (aq) CO32− (aq) + 2 H3O+ (aq)

Acid rain affects us in many different ways. One major way is our health. Breathing and lung problems in children and adults who have asthma and in children have been linked to acid air pollution. Everything that we eat, drink, and breathe has at one time come in contact with acid deposits. This could threaten our health by making us become sick.

Acid rain is caused by smoke and gases that are given off by factories and cars that run on fossil fuels. When these fuels are burned to produce energy, the sulfur that is present in the fuel combines with oxygen and becomes sulfur dioxide; some of the nitrogen in the air becomes nitrogen oxide. These pollutants go into the atmosphere, and become acid.