ACID RAIN

• Acid rain, or acid deposition, is a broad term that

includes any form of precipitation with acidic
components, such as sulfuric or nitric acid that fall to
the ground from the atmosphere in wet or dry forms.
• Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is
unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of
hydrogen ions.
• Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that
exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but acid rain has a pH level lower
than this and ranges from 4–5 on average
• The fossil fuels that humans burn for energy can come
back to haunt us as acid rain.
• Acid rain describes any form of precipitation that
contains high levels of nitric and sulfuric acids.
• It can also occur in the form of snow, fog, and tiny bits
of dry material that settle to Earth.
• Normal rain is slightly acidic, with a pH of 5.6, while acid
rain generally has a pH between 4.2 and 4.4.
• Causes of acid rain
• Rotting vegetation and erupting volcanoes release some
chemicals that can cause acid rain, but most acid rain is
a product of human activities.
• The biggest sources are coal-burning power plants,
factories, and automobiles.
• When humans burn fossil fuels, sulfur dioxide (SO ) and
2

nitrogen oxides (NO ) are released into the atmosphere.

x

• Those air pollutants react with water, oxygen, and other

substances to form airborne sulfuric and nitric acid.
• Winds may spread these acidic compounds through the
atmosphere and over hundreds of miles.
• When acid rain reaches Earth, it flows across the surface in
runoff water, enters water systems, and sinks into the soil.
• A virtual tree graveyard of Norway spruce in Poland
bears the scars of acid rain.
• Caused when rain droplets absorb air pollution like
sulfur and nitrogen oxides,
• acid rain weakens trees by dissolving nutrients in the
soil before plants can use them.
• Effects of acid rain
• Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are not primary greenhouse gases
that contribute to global warming, one of the main effects of
climate change;
• in fact, sulfur dioxide has a cooling effect on the atmosphere.

• But nitrogen oxides contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone

, a major pollutant that can be harmful to people.
• Both gases cause environmental and health concerns because they
can spread easily via air pollution and acid rain.
• Acid rain has many ecological effects, especially on
lakes, streams, wetlands, and other aquatic
environments.
• Acid rain makes such waters more acidic, which results
in more aluminium absorption from soil, which is carried
into lakes and streams.
• That combination makes waters toxic to aquatic
animals.
• Some species can tolerate acidic waters better than others.
• However, in an interconnected ecosystem, what affects some species
eventually affects many more throughout the food chain, including
non-aquatic species such as birds.
• Acid rain and fog also damage forests, especially those at higher
elevations.
• The acid deposits rob the soil of essential nutrients such as calcium
and cause aluminum to be released in the soil, which makes it
hard for trees to take up water.
• Acids also harm tree leaves and needles.
• The effects of acid rain, combined with other
environmental stressors, leave trees and plants less
healthy and more vulnerable to cold temperatures,
insects, and disease.
• The pollutants may also inhibit trees' ability to
reproduce. Some soils are better able to neutralize acids
than others.
• But in areas where the soil's "buffering capacity" is
low, such as parts of the U.S. Northeast, the harmful
effects of acid rain are much greater.
Climate 101: Air PollutionWhat
is air pollution? Learn how
greenhouse gasses, smog, and
toxic pollutants affect climate
change, as well as human
health.

Acid deposits damage physical

structures such as limestone
buildings and cars. And when it
takes the form of inhalable fog,
acid precipitation can cause
health problems in people,
including eye irritation and
asthma.
• What can be done?
• The only way to fight acid rain is by curbing the release
of the pollutants that cause it. This means burning
fewer fossil fuels and setting air-quality standards.
• In the U.S., the Clean Air Act of 1990 targeted acid rain,
• putting in place pollution limits that helped cut sulfur
dioxide emissions 88 percent between 1990 and 2017.
• Air-quality standards have also driven U.S.
emissions of nitrogen dioxide down 50 percent in the same time period.
• These trends have helped red spruce forests in New England and
• some fish populations, for example, recover from acid rain damage.
• But recovery takes time, and soils in the northeastern U.S. and eastern
Canada have only recently shown signs of stabilizing nutrients.
• Acid rain problems will persist as long as fossil fuel use does,
and countries such as China that have relied heavily on coal
for electricity and steel production are grappling with those
effects.
• One study found that acid rain in China may have even
contributed to a deadly 2009 landslide.
• China is implementing controls for sulfur dioxide emissions,
which have fallen 75 percent since 2007
• —but India's have increased by half.