Acid Rain Luka Martinovic

Luka Martinovic

Patrick Youell

Science 9B

May 7, 2016

Acid rain is a type of rain that is unusually acidic, this means that it possess higher level of hydrogen ions (low pH). Acid rain can have a bad effect of plants, aquatic animals, paint and buildings. Acid rain comes if many different forms. It can be found in snow and fog in general. Acid rain is mostly caused by erupting volcano's. When a volcano erupts it releases chemicals in the air which cause the normal rain to contain unusual acidity. Acidic rain isn't always caused by natural happenings it is actually mostly caused by human creations. Some human creations that cause acidic rain are factories, power plants and different types of vehicles that contain fuel.

Effects - There are many ecological effects of acid rain, but the greatest effect is the impact it has with lakes, streams, wetlands and aquatic environments. Acid rain causes them to absorb the aluminum that makes its way from soil into lakes and streams. This also has a great effect on aquatic animals and animals that use that water. Many fish are not able to survive if their environment contains more acidity then it should have. Acid rain can effect lakes and streams in two different ways, chronic and episodic. Chronic results from many years on acid rainfall. This reduces the alkalinity and increases acidity of the water. Chronic reduces the level of nutrients such as calcium. This may result to weaken the fish and other plants. Episodic is a sudden jump in the acidity in the water. This results from a heavy rainstorm. It also happens in the spring, because the sulfates and nitrates will concentrate in the lowest layers of a snow.This can lead to a high concentration of substances such as aluminum, which is toxic to fish.

Figure 1: Acid Rain Cycle

Acid rain has a great effect on buildings, sculptures and paintings. Acid rain has a corrosive  on limestone or marble. It is well established that either wet or dry deposition of sulfur dioxide significantly increases the rate of corrosion on limestone and marble. Many sculptures have been destroyed from acid rain as if it melts down the marble material in a way. Many people wrap sculptures during the winter with waterproof covers so the acid rain doesn't effect the sculpture. You can see the effect of acid rain over several years in figure 2. Acid rain could eventually decompose the whole statue in figure 2.  

Figure 2: Effect of Acid Rain 

As I said before acid rain is mainly caused by human solution. The only way to stop acid rain is to reduce this pollution. This could be done by reducing burning of fossil fuels. This is a long term issue and many people have been fighting pollution for years. People have tried to use also electric cars and to prompt this alternative system. If people were to switch to a alternative system for their vehicles it would help out a lot. Maybe instead of driving a car you can walk if possible or ride a bike ans so on. Power plants are as well playing a huge roll in acid rain. If people were to use less electricity it would stop power plants and hopefully decrease the acidity in the rain.  

Work Cited:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/znsk7ty/revision

http://chemistry.elmhurst.edu/vchembook/196buildings.html

http://classroom.synonym.com/acid-rain-affect-buildings-statues-22062.html

https://www3.epa.gov/region1/eco/acidrain/enveffects.html