Acid Rain
What is Acid Rain?
Acid rain is Rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions. It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals and infrastructure.
What is so Dangerous about acid rain?
Acid rain looks, feels, and tastes just like clean rain. The harm to people from acid rain is not direct. Walking in acid rain, or even swimming in an acid lake, is no more dangerous than walking or swimming in clean water. This means that acid rain is unnoticeable, and can damage your environment without suspision. Acid rain also causes acidification of lakes and streams and contributes to the damage of trees at high elevations and many sensitive forest soils. In addition, acid rain accelerates the decay of building materials and paints, including irreplaceable buildings, statues, and sculptures that are part of our nation's cultural heritage. Prior to falling to the earth, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide gases and their particulate matter derivatives contribute to visibility degradation and harm public health. Not only does it harm your environment, but it harms you too.
You may be wondering what Hydrogen ions are. (pH)
The pH scale measures how acidic or basic a substance is. It ranges from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is neutral. A pH less than 7 is acidic, and a pH greater than 7 is basic. Each whole pH value below 7 is ten times more acidic than the next higher value.
What causes acid rain?
The pollutants that cause acid rain are sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. These do damage human health.
What can we do about it?
"State helicopters have deposited 80 tons of lime to a remote Adirondack pond to reverse the effects of acid rain so native brook trout habitat can be restored." - Daily Reporter Greenfield, Indiana. People are using lime to reverse the harm of acid rain.