Ecosystems

Acid rain is caused by a combination of sulfur dioxide emissions and nitrogen oxide emissions. These gases react with moisture to form sulfuric acid and nitric acid respectively. Sulfur Dioxide is produced by burning fossil fuels (mostly coal) to generate energy (67%), while Nitrogen Oxide is produced by transportation vehicles (54%), as determined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Sulfur dioxide can also be released by volcanic eruptions.

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The primary causes of acid rain are sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. These chemicals are released by certain industrial processes, and as a result, the more industrialized nations of Europe as well as the US suffer severely from acid rain.

Most sulfur dioxide comes from power plants that use coal as their fuel. These plants emit 100 million tons of sulfur dioxide, 70% of that in the world.

Automobiles produce about half of the world's nitrogen oxide. As the number of automobiles in use increases, so does the amount of acid rain. Power plants that burn fossil fuels also contribute significantly to nitrogen oxide emission.

�H2O + SO3 (pollution) > H2SO4 � �H2SO4 + CaCO3 > Ca2+ + H2O + CO2 + SO42-

Pollutants present in the atmosphere, from a combination of industry and the average consumer, is carried out of the air when rain clouds form and is then brought down in the resulting condensation.

Acidic rain occurs when chemicals, like sulfur dioxide, rise into the atmosphere and mix with the moisture that becomes rain.

Acid Rain is caused by the release of sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide.

Products of decomposition, and combustion, in the form of acidic gasses combine with moisture in the atmosphere into a weak acid solution. When raindrops form it includes these acids, lowering the pH of the rain.

Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. These substances can rise very high into the atmosphere, where they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form more acidic pollutants, known as acid rain.

Acid rain is caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline. Oxides of nitrogen and sulphur are released into the air when fossil fuels are burnt and when they mix with the precipitation in clouds acid rain is formed.

• Acid rain refers to the acidic rain formed by hydration of sulfur di oxide, carbon di oxide gases in the atmosphere. Unnatural cause for acid rain includes the exponential increase of usage of automobiles, industries which emit harmful volatile gases. Human activities degrade the quality of air composition through pollution and this seems to be the unnatural cause of acid rain.

• Washouts and effluents from agricultural land, industries, and factories mix with water and enter the atmosphere via the water cycle.

• Acid rain is mostly caused by human activities. But, Acid rain is also caused by the chemical reaction of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, plus the combination of water, oxygen, and other acidic pollutants.

• Acid rain is formed when the compound sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide is released , these gasses mix in with the water vapor in the air and produce dilute forms of sulphric acid(H2SO4) and nitric acid (HNO3).

• Acid precipitation is rain (or other precipitation) that is unusually acidic ( has a pH below 6). The main pollutants that cause this problem are sulfur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) . These combine with water in the atmosphere to produce Sulfurous and Sulphuric Acid, and Nitrous and Nitric Acid

• Burning of fossil fuels releases gaseous pollutants into the air. These are transported to a long distance at a high altitude. About 2/3 of the gases released into the atmosphere are brought back to the earth as a gas or as minute particles. The remaining 1/3 is oxidized. Some of these oxidized acids can reach the ground as rain or snow. This rainfall is called acid rain.

• Acid rain is a product of gaseous air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NO3), hydrogen, carbon dioxide, ammonia and hydrocarbon. It is a mixture of sulphuric acid, nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. In other words, rainfall that has a pH lower than 5.6 is determined as acid rain.