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Acid rain (more correctly acidic precipitation) refers to the rain or snow wih a pH lower than 7.

"Clean" or unpolluted rain has a slightly acidic pH of about 5.2, because carbon dioxide and water in the air react together to form carbonic acid, a weak acid (pH 5.6 in distilled water), but unpolluted rain also contains other chemicals. H2O (l) + CO2 (g) → H2CO3 (aq) Carbonic acid then can ionize in water forming low concentrations of hydronium ions: 2H2O (l) + H2CO3 (aq) CO32- (aq) + 2H3O+(aq) The extra acidity in rain comes from the reaction of primary air pollutants, primarily sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides, with water in the air to form strong acids (like sulphuric and nitric acid). The main sources of these pollutants are industrial power-generating plants and vehicles.

The chemistry:

Sulphur dioxide and water form sulphurous acid (H2SO3)

SO2(g) + H2O(l) <--> H2SO3(aq)

In some cases sulphur dioxide (SO2) oxidizes to sulphur trioxide (SO3)

2SO2(g) + O2(g) -> 2SO3(g)

The sulphur trioxide (SO3) then combines with water making sulphuric acid (H2SO4)

SO3(g) + H2O(l) -> H2SO4(aq)

Some oxides of nitrogen like nitrogen dioxide (NO2) react with water to form nitrous acid (HNO2) and nitric acid (HNO3)

2NO2(g) + H2O(l) -> HNO2(aq) + HNO3(aq)

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