How does acid rain make lake water acidic?

Answer 1

in atmostphere there is oxides of sulphur and nitrogen which makes atmosphere acidic , and when rains these oxides are getting mixed in it and when these rain droplets fall in lake it makes lake's water acidic.

Acid rain becomes "acid" rain as it dissolves gases from the atmosphere that form acid solutions. Normal rain is slightly acidic, but acid rain is somewhat more so. Since lakes are filled by the runoff from rain and other precipitation (like snow and sleet) you would expect that if the source was acid, the lake would be to. Rain in a forest washes leaves, where it may pick up deposits of acidic dusts from man-made sources and falls through the trees to the forest floor below. Some trickles over the ground and runs into streams, rivers, or lakes, and some of the water soaks into the soil. That soil may neutralize some or all of the acidity of the acid rainwater. This ability is called buffering capacity, and without it, soils become more acidic. Differences in soil buffering capacity are an important reason why some areas that receive acid rain show a lot of damage, while other areas that receive about the same amount of acid rain do not appear to be harmed at all. The ability of forest soils to resist, or buffer, acidity depends on the thickness and composition of the soil, as well as the type of bedrock beneath the forest floor. Midwestern states like Nebraska and Indiana have soils that are well buffered. Places in the mountainous northeast, like New York's Adirondack and Catskill Mountains, have thin soils with low buffering capacity. They also have naturally acid soils that would acidify the lakes even without acid rain helping out.

It is important to note however than many lakes that are acidic are actually that way primarily due to the acidification of the runoff as it passes through acidic organic matter (like pine needles) rather than due to acid rain. In the last 10 or 20 years scientists have discovered that many lakes that are becoming more acidic are actually returning to the natural state they were in prior to humans moving into the area, burning trees and other plants and creating alkaline runoff that neutralized the naturally acidic lakes. Other lakes are acidic because the rocks through which the water percolates contain acidifying components - so the water not only becomes "hard" as it dissolves part of the rocks, it sometimes also becomes acidic.

Answer 2

in atmostphere there is oxides of sulphur and nitrogen which makes atmosphere acidic , and when rains these oxides are getting mixed in it and when these rain droplets fall in lake it makes lake's water acidic.

Acid rain becomes "acid" rain as it dissolves gases from the atmosphere that form acid solutions. Normal rain is slightly acidic, but acid rain is somewhat more so. Since lakes are filled by the runoff from rain and other precipitation (like snow and sleet) you would expect that if the source was acid, the lake would be to. Rain in a forest washes leaves, where it may pick up deposits of acidic dusts from man-made sources and falls through the trees to the forest floor below. Some trickles over the ground and runs into streams, rivers, or lakes, and some of the water soaks into the soil. That soil may neutralize some or all of the acidity of the acid rainwater. This ability is called buffering capacity, and without it, soils become more acidic. Differences in soil buffering capacity are an important reason why some areas that receive acid rain show a lot of damage, while other areas that receive about the same amount of acid rain do not appear to be harmed at all. The ability of forest soils to resist, or buffer, acidity depends on the thickness and composition of the soil, as well as the type of bedrock beneath the forest floor. Midwestern states like Nebraska and Indiana have soils that are well buffered. Places in the mountainous northeast, like New York's Adirondack and Catskill Mountains, have thin soils with low buffering capacity. They also have naturally acid soils that would acidify the lakes even without acid rain helping out.

It is important to note however than many lakes that are acidic are actually that way primarily due to the acidification of the runoff as it passes through acidic organic matter (like pine needles) rather than due to acid rain. In the last 10 or 20 years scientists have discovered that many lakes that are becoming more acidic are actually returning to the natural state they were in prior to humans moving into the area, burning trees and other plants and creating alkaline runoff that neutralized the naturally acidic lakes. Other lakes are acidic because the rocks through which the water percolates contain acidifying components - so the water not only becomes "hard" as it dissolves part of the rocks, it sometimes also becomes acidic.