Acidic Destruction

Acidic Destruction


Sitting in your room late at night, you listen to the gentle pitter-patter of the rain on your window. It is so soothing and relaxing. Have you ever wondered what the rain is really made of? Is that simply water or is it acid slowly streaming down out there? That rain you hear might be acid rain, which is caused by sulfur-dioxide emissions and shown to be harmful to plants, animals, humans, and even buildings and structures.
The commonly used terms “acid rain” and “acid precipitation” describe specific forms of a type of pollution described generally as “acid deposition.” Harmful gases that rise into the air mix with cloud moisture, sunlight, and oxidants. There they chemically combine into dilute sulfuric and nitric acids, which fall back to the earth. This is acid deposition. The major contributing pollutants are sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide (Morgan, 5).
“Acid rain” is basically rainwater with a pH level lower than ...