These pollutants cause acid rain. Acid Rain is Caused by Reactions in the Environment Nature depends on balance, and although some rain is naturally acidic, with a pH level of around 5. Normal precipitation —such as rain, sleet, or snow—reacts with alkaline chemicals , or non-acidic materials, that can be found in air, soils, bedrock, lakes, and streams. Meet the people trying to help.
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Subscriber Exclusive Content. Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars? How viruses shape our world. The era of greyhound racing in the U. Acid rain leaches aluminum from the soil. That aluminum may be harmful to plants as well as animals. Acid rain also removes minerals and nutrients from the soil that trees need to grow. Acidic precipitation can be caused by natural volcanoes and man-made activities, such as from cars and in the generation of electricity. The precursors, or chemical forerunners, of acid rain formation result from both natural sources, such as volcanoes and decaying vegetation, and man-made sources, primarily emissions of sulfur dioxide SO 2 and nitrogen oxides NO x resulting from fossil fuel combustion.
The burning of fossil fuels coal and oil by power-production companies and industries releases sulfur into the air that combines with oxygen to form sulfur dioxide SO 2. Exhausts from cars cause the formation of nitrogen oxides in the air. From these gases, airborne sulfuric acid H 2 SO 4 and nitric acid HNO 3 can be formed and be dissolved in the water vapor in the air. Although acid-rain gases may originate in urban areas, they are often carried for hundreds of miles in the atmosphere by winds into rural areas.
That is why forests and lakes in the countryside can be harmed by acid rain that originates in cities. The environment can generally adapt to a certain amount of acid rain. Often soil is slightly basic due to naturally occurring limestone, which has a pH of greater than 7.
Because bases counteract acids, these soils tend to balance out some of the acid rain's acidity. But in areas, such as some of the Rocky Mountains and parts of the northwestern and southeastern United States, where limestone does not naturally occur in the soil, acid rain can harm the environment. Some fish and animals, such as frogs, have a hard time adapting to and reproducing in an acidic environment.
Many plants, such as evergreen trees, are damaged by acid rain and acid fog. I've seen some of the acid-rain damage to the evergreen forests in the Black Forest of Germany. Much of the Black Forest was indeed black because so much of the green pine needles had been destroyed, leaving only the black trunks and limbs! You also might notice how acid rain has eaten away the stone in some cities' buildings and stone artwork.
Acidity in rain is measured by collecting samples of rain and measuring its pH. To find the distribution of rain acidity, weather conditions are monitored and rain samples are collected at sites all over the country.
The areas of greatest acidity lowest pH values are located in the Northeastern United States. This pattern of high acidity is caused by the large number of cities, the dense population, and the concentration of power and industrial plants in the Northeast. In addition, the prevailing wind direction brings storms and pollution to the Northeast from the Midwest, and dust from the soil and rocks in the Northeastern United States is less likely to neutralize acidity in the rain.
When you hear or read in the media about the effects of acid rain, you are usually told about the lakes, fish, and trees in New England and Canada. However, we are becoming aware of an additional concern: many of our historic buildings and monuments are located in the areas of highest acidity.
In Europe, where buildings are much older and pollution levels have been ten times greater than in the United States, there is a growing awareness that pollution and acid rain are accelerating the deterioration of buildings and monuments.
Stone weathers deteriorates as part of the normal geologic cycle through natural chemical, physical, and biological processes when it is exposed to the environment. Unlike wet deposition, dry deposition is difficult and expensive to measure. When acid deposition is washed into lakes and streams, it can cause some to turn acidic. The Long-Term Monitoring LTM Network measures and monitors surface water chemistry at over sites to provide valuable information on aquatic ecosystem health and how water bodies respond to changes in acid-causing emissions and acid deposition.
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