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__Acid Rain__
Acid rain is a form of air pollution in which airborne acids fall to ground. These acids are most commonly produced by electricity plants and industrial plants. Acid rain is a very corrosive form of air pollution in which airborne acids fall to Earth. After the “rain” falls it will leave many damages to the environment. The first factor is creating acid rain is the production of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. These compounds are created from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas, and oil, and also from some cases of manufacturing. Once in the air, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide react with either water or other chemicals to form pollutants such as nitric acid and sulfuric acid. As a pollutant, these acids will travel through the atmosphere until they come to ground. Mostly they will come back to the ground as rain, snow or fog, but sometimes they will return back down to the ground in a dry particle form. These particles or gases can then be carried by wind or mixed with a liquid to produce an acid rain like liquid.

The unnatural process that acid rain is created can be credited to us, humans. Throughout the day humans are using up mass amounts of fossil fuels, and therefore creating many irreversible effects. Luckily acid rain is one effect that will hopefully be reversed or at least stopped in the future. To be more specific about the process in which acid rain is created we must first take a look at the initial chemical reaction. The chemical reaction that occurs from interaction with fossil fuels is mainly combustion or burning. When oxygen from the air combines with elements such carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur, new compounds are formed. These compounds are called oxides and exist as gases. The two most common oxides formed are those of nitrogen and sulfur. Nitrogen oxides are generally created by one of the world’s most used way of transpiration, the motor vehicle, while sulfur oxides are emitted from power plants (such as ones that burn coal) and from oil refining. As acid pollutants these oxides will react with water vapor to create either nitric acid or nitrates and sulfuric acid or sulfates. Once formed these acid compounds will follow the path of rain or snow or fog and eventually return to the ground.

Upon returning back to the ground, acid rain is so destructive because the acid that acid rain is composed of is capable of reacting chemically with almost any object. They reason they react so is easily is due to abundance of extra hydrogen atoms after the acid is combined with water (this is also called acidity). The high acidity content allows the corrosive chemical substance to easily give up hydrogen atoms and bond with the elements of the objects that it is going to react with. Acidity is measures on a pH scale, ranging from zero to fourteen. The lower the number the more acidic the acid; a.k.a. more corrosive. However, for a acid to be considered an acid rain it has to have a pH less than 5.6. Currently, in our society many people are unaware of the widespread negative effects of acid rain on our plant, but they should. The fact that acid rain is even unnaturally produced means that currently many toxic pollutants are being emitted into out air. Some of the more visible damaging effects of acid rain in wildlife include: the removal of nutrients from soils, the slowing of tree growth, and the contamination of lakes and rivers. In more urban areas acid rain has caused an increased rate of wear and tear on buildings and statues and has even been linked to cause some lung problems due to the formation of acid rain reacting with other chemicals to form urban smog. The chemical reaction that creates acid rain is a worldwide issue that our planet needs to start considering before the effects permanently harm our environment.



Bibliography: http://www.angelfire.com/ks3/acidrainreport/acid.html http://www.policyalmanac.org/environment/archive/acid_rain.shtml http://bqs.usgs.gov/precip/reports/arfs.htm http://maine.gov/dep/air/acidrain/ http://reports.eea.europa.eu/2599XXX/en/acid.gif http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/01590/pollution/acidrain.gif http://www.citizenscampaign.org/images/armechanics.jpg