What is acid rain? Part 2
So what makes an ordinary rain becomes acid rain? This happens when the acidity of rain falls in reaction to common air pollutants, primarily sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides. So when the rain water comes into contact with human pollution of the atmosphere, forms sulfuric and nitric acids. So the rain becomes more acidic yet, with a pH below 3.
What causes it? Human pollutants such as noxious fumes long run factories and power plants as clean energy from coal, gas or petroleum products. Vehicles also emit harmful gases which contribute their grain to the general pollution.
History of Acid Rain
The contamination of man began, a large scale, with the industrial revolution. Already in 1852, Robert Angus Smith studied acid rain, which was already a problem, and showed it was related to air pollution in Manchester, England. But I was only in 60s of 20th century scientists began to study the phenomenon of acid rain. The term itself appears only in 1972.
Since the 70 acid rain began to be a serious problem, so the industries began to be kept away from populated areas, but not the only humans suffer. Several European countries, Russia and China are the most currently suffer. The worst are those who still have power stations which operate by burning coal or diesel.
What’s worse is that many times the deposition of acid rain falling miles away from where the pollutants are produced, so a country can be highly polluting, but adverse effects can be felt in the neighboring nation.
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