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What Causes Acid Rain?
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What is acid raid?
Acid rain is a type of air pollution that, combined with a precipitation, falls on earth in the form of rain, fog, mist and so on. Acid rain has been blamed as the culprit for a variety of damages like erosion of valuable structures and causing injuries to vegetation. It has also been pinpointed as one of the main causes of depletion of marine life and so on.
How it is caused?
The presence of acid in rainwater was first detected by Robert Angus Smith, in the year 1872. The origin of acid rain has been traced back to the industrial revolution. Heavily industrialized areas have been found to have a large concentration of acid mixed with precipitation. This is because gases released during industrial processes upset the natural balance. The main ‘culprits’ are the gases sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, ozone and unburnt hydrocarbons.
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Emissions from industrial operations like smelting and refining cause the release of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide into air. Burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil also cause emission of harmful gases. These gases combine with water vapor in the clouds to form sulphuric and nitric acids. So the precipitation that falls on the ground is highly acidic, having a pH value of about 5.6 or even lower. A pH scale is used to indicate levels of acidity. The scale ranges from 0 to 14 and lower numbers indicate high acidity. In fact, pH values as low as two and three have been recorded in several areas of eastern US and Western Europe.
What it does?
Acid rain stops the growth of plants and defoliates them before time. Evidence of the damage caused by acid rain has been found in Germany’s Black Forest, where almost half of the trees have been damaged by acid rain. Vegetation in the north-eastern US and eastern Canada have been similarly affected. In the USA, in 1981, it was found that almost all fish had disappeared from a lake near New York due to acid water. This is mainly
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Formation of Acid Rain
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because acid rain upsets the balance of rainwater. Structures like the Taj Mahal and many other famous statues like the Statue of Liberty have showed the negative effects of acid rain. Acid rain makes the stone weak and reduces the lifespan of these structures.
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Regions that are exposed to acid rain lose aluminum from the soil and the dissolved aluminum that flows into lakes and other water bodies proves harmful for aquatic life. Similarly, it has a detrimental effect on vegetation also.
Efforts to control acid rain (Solutions)
Governments all over the world have launched strict measures to control emissions from industries and vehicles to ensure cleaner air and water. However the chemical reactions that occur in the atmosphere and result in acid rain are quite complex. So industries challenge the accuracy of assessments that restrict their activities. Further studies in this area are required to be able to support and enforce strict anti-pollution measures.
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