Question

What causes acid rain and how does it affect soli, plants, aquatic ecosystems and humans?

Answer 1

Hint:As the name suggests it is a type of rain. Rain refers to the movement of water from the clouds on to the earth. Between the clouds and the earth, the medium is the atmosphere. Atmosphere consists of gases such carbon dioxide, Sulphur dioxide, water vapors etc. These gases when present in optimum amounts do not adversely affect the habitation but when their quantity extends beyond a certain threshold, they start affecting the natural processes.

Complete answer:
 Acid rain happens when the quantity of Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides exceeds the threshold limit and is transported by wind and air currents. These oxides react with oxygen and water to form nitric and sulfuric acids. When rain happens, they get mixed up with water and come down to the earth’s surface.

These Acidic particles and gases when come down to the surface, get deposited to surfaces such as water bodies & vegetation quickly or may react during atmospheric transport to form larger particles that can be harmful to human health. When the accumulated acids are washed off a surface by the next rain, this acidic water flows over and through the ground, and can harm plants and wildlife, such as insects and fish.

Note:The amount of acidity present in the rain measured by checking out the pH of the rain water. The pH of water is 7. If the pH is less than 7 and near about 4.3 to 4.5, then the rain is termed as the acid rain. When acid deposition gets into water bodies, these water bodies get turned in to acidic. Rain is very essential for survival and the phenomenon of acid rain endangers the survival of living organisms.