Acid rain and its effects on the environment

[arvinth91]

many of us don't know what is acid rain. what we say is acid rain is that when the toxic gases escape from the factories and vehicles they get mixed up with the atmosphere. when they react with the moisture they form their respective acids and come back to the earth in the form of acid rain. this may also be regarded as air pollution leading to water pollution. reply me with your views.

[0099]

yes acid rain is exactly the same as you have mentioned, it is the accumulation of harmful chemicals by way of air and gets converted in to acidic rain.. it has real harmful consequences such as degradation of historical monuments, it may also lead to various skin diseases such as skin cancer. i have an example of Taj Mahal in India which made of pure marble and has turned yellow due to acid rain. so we can well imagine if it can cause so much harm to a stone, what will it do to our skin. planting more trees and restricting the pollution is the only way we can stop it...

[Sid]

Acid rain is very harmful especially for marbles and all. Recently it has taken its toll on Agra's Taj Mahal which stands in the list of 7 wonders of the world and it was found that acid rain along with the pollution is damaging the marbles with which Taj mahal was built. We must stop pollution else many other heritage building and monuments will be lost.

[winny]

this is the more reason we have to put up some regulations on the location of industries and make the use of solar more common to reduce the rate at which the habitable environment is polluted and that at which our invaluables are destroyed.

[zapakpro]

acid rain is actually a mixture of harmful gases mixed with water vapour which pours down in the form of rain. the term acid rain is alarming as some might think it literally means acid falling down. no it isn't.i t is dilute in concentration but if it rains on some monuments for a brief period of time, it makes the monument lose its color and also it damages the outer surface. acid rain also prevents photosyntesis.

[Fragile]

It is more than we must put to the top some payments on the place of industries & make
the use of more common solar reduces the rate to which the livable environment reason is
polluted & that to which our invaluables naps destroyed.

[Padalda]

The acid rain has true harmful consequences such as the degradation of the historic buildings and moreover it can also lead to the various skin diseases such as cancer , irritation of the skin , etc. This should be stopped otherwise heritage of the monuments will be lost one day as the monuments can lose its color and also the external surface of the building may get damaged due to acid rain.

[CountryBoy]

I'm a chemist so I can tell you exactly what acid rain is: it's when oxides of sulfur (mainly) and nitrogen react with water vapor in the atmosphere, causing the resultant precipitation to be acidified.

As several previous posted have hit upon this causes damage to certain types of stone, particularly marble. No-one seems to have mentioned two other significant problems caused by acid rainfall: damage to plants/forestation and acidification of waterways.

In the far northern hemisphere thousands of acres of evergreen forest has been stripped of its greenery because of acid rain. The increased acidity of lakes has left them a hostile environment to all manner of wildlife.

The unpolluted rain water is slightly acid acidic due to the reaction CO2(g) + H20(l) = H2C03(aq) which is carbonic acid. carbonic acid reduces the PH of normal water from 7 to around 6 making normal rain water slightly acidic. However, acid rain is mainly caused by NO2 and SO2 gas released from factories. SO2 gas reacts with atmospheric water vapor according to this reaction SO2(g) + H20(l) = H2SO3(aq). H2S03 is sulfurous acid which is a weak acid. However, S02 can also react with atmospheric oxygen according to the reaction S02(g) + 02(g) = S03(g). The S03 gas then reacts with atmospheric water vapor according to the reaction S03(g) + H20(l) = H2S04(aq). H2S04 is sulfuric acid (a very strong acid) which does most of the harm.

N02(g) also reacts with atmospheric water vapor forming nitrous and Nitric acid (another strong acid). 2N02(g) + H20(l) = HNO2(aq) + HNO3(aq) All these acids reduce the PH of water making rain water more acidic. Acidic rain water affects both crops and animals especially aquatic life.