WHAT IS ACID RAIN Acid rain is a

WHAT IS ACID RAIN? Acid rain is a result of air pollution. When any type of fuel is burnt, lots of different chemicals are produced. The smoke that comes from a fire or the fumes that come out of a car exhaust contains lots of invisible gases that can be even more harmful to our environment.

Power stations, factories and cars all burn fuels and therefore they all produce polluting gases. Some of these gases react with the tiny droplets of water in clouds to form sulphuric and nitric acids. The rain from these clouds then falls as very weak acid - which is why it is known as "acid rain".

ACID RAIN For the first time the term "acid rain" was introduced in 1872, by the English explorer Angus Smith. This scientist has drawn public attention to the Victorian smog in Manchester.

Although scholars of that time rejected theory of the existence of acid rain, today nobody doubts that acid rain is one of the causes of death of reservoirs, forests, crops and vegetation.

WHAT CAUSES ACID RAIN? Acid rain is formed by the reaction between water and sulfur oxides and various oxides of nitrogen. These pollutants emitted by road, as a result of steel mills and power plants, as well as the burning of coal and wood.

DEATH OF FORESTS Over the years, scientists, foresters, and others have noted a slowed growth of some forests. Leaves and needles turn brown and fall off when they should be green and healthy. Acid rain causes slower growth, injury, or death of forests.

Acid rain does not usually kill trees directly. Instead, it is more likely to weaken trees by damaging their leaves, limiting the nutrients available to them, or exposing them to toxic substances slowly released from the soil.

DEATH OF ANIMALS Acid rain can be dangerous to animals, especially aquatic animals. The high acidity levels in acid rain make rivers and oceans more acidic than usual. Unfortunately this effect kills a lot of aquatic animals.

DEATH OF ANIMALS Land animals however, most of them can easily survive through acid rain. But if a plant or animal that humans eat has acid rain in it and we eat it, it could cause kidney damage and brain damage, just to name a few.

Acid rain is a very negative effect on the lake, increasing the acidity of water in them to such a level that kills the existing flora and fauna there.

Effects of Acid Rain Acid deposition also has an impact on architecture and art because of its ability to corrode certain materials.

Effects of Acid Rain Acid deposition can also corrode modern buildings, cars, railroad tracks, airplanes, steel bridges, and pipes above and below ground.

What's Being Done? Because of these problems and the adverse effects air pollution has on human health, a number of steps are being taken to reduce sulfur and nitrogen emissions.

Many governments are now requiring energy producers to clean smoke stacks by using scrubbers which trap pollutants before they are released into the atmosphere and catalytic converters in cars to reduce their emissions.

Бібліографія Ø http: //www. ypte. org. uk/environmental/acid- rain/1 Ø http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Acid_rain Ø http: //geography. about. com/od/globalprobl emsandissues/a/acidrain. htm