Acid Rain
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Acid Rain
Acid rain is rain or other forms of precipitation that is unusually acidic. Acid rain occurs when pollutants emitted into the atmosphere dissolve in cloud droplets and cause the moisture to become acidic. The primary contributor to acid rain is the human emissions of sulfur and nitrogen compounds into the atmosphere and the resultant acidic moisture can have a harmful effect on the chemistry and biology of lakes, streams, forest, soil, other ecosystems as well as human health and infrastructure. The main industrial activity that results in the emission of these acid rain producing gases is the generation of power for everyday use by burning of coal. In recent years many governments have introduced laws that have successively reduced these emissions, but their impact to the environment is very slow to be reversed and in the case of species extinction the impact is possibly irreversible. We simply have to do more to reduce these emissions.
The most important compounds that lead to acid rain are sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The principal natural phenomena that contribute acid producing gages to the atmosphere are emissions from volcanoes and those from natural biological decay. The principal human sources for gases of sulfur and nitrogen are coal burning power plants, smoke stacks from factories, and exhaust from motor vehicles. Acid rain was discovered in 1852 as Robert Angus Smith demonstrated the relationship between acid rain and the atmospheric pollution in Manchester England. Industrial areas of Europe, China and Russia all have plants that burn sulfur-containing coal to generate heat and electricity. Occasional pH readings in rain and fog waters of well below 2.4 (the acidity of vinegar) have been reported in these areas.
Acid rain has been shown to have adverse impacts on forests, freshwaters and soils, killing insects and aquatic life forms as well as causing damage to buildings and having impacts on human health. At pHs lower than...
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