Question

Acid rain is due to the formation of _________.
(A) Ozone
(B) Nitric acid
(C) Carbon dioxide
(D) Oxygen

Answer 1

Hint: Try to recall that acid rain is the rain water containing sulphuric acid and oxides of nitrogen along with a small amount of hydrochloric acid and has a pH of 4-5. Now, by using this you can easily find the correct option from the given ones.

Complete answer:
* It is known to you that acid rain is caused by emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which react with water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids.
* The formation of acid rain is due to natural sources such as bacterial action or volcanic eruptions or due to human activities mainly involving combustion of fuels like coal, wood, petroleum products, etc.
* Also, the main chemicals in air pollution that creates acid rain are oxides of nitrogen and those of sulphur.
* Acid rain usually forms high in the clouds where oxides of nitrogen and sulphur react with water, oxygen and oxidants to form a mild solution of nitric acid and sulphuric acid.
* The main contributor of acid rain is sulphuric acid, next is nitric acid and least is hydrochloric acid.
* Acid rain increases the acidity of water in the lakes which is lethal for the fishes. For this reason, some of the lakes have become fishless. Thus, it has greatly affected the fish population.
Therefore, from above we can easily conclude that option B is the correct option to the given question.

Note:
* It should be remembered that acid rain causes extensive damage to buildings, statues and sculptural material, especially those made of marbles, limestone, slate, mortar, etc.
* Also, you should remember that we can reduce the formation of acid rain by using catalytic converters in cars so that oxides of nitrogen present in exhaust gases are converted into free nitrogen.