Acid Rain: The Harmful Effects Of Acid Rain

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Acid rain which can also be called as acid precipitation or acid deposition is a type of precipitation that has a PH of about 5.2 or below which is unusually acidic for precipitation. Acid rain can come in many forms such as snow, rain, fog, hail and dust. As long as it contains unnatural amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids it can be considered as acid rain. Based on the PH value from 1 to 14, 7 is the neutral. A number below 7 indicate acidity which increases as the number decreases with 1 being the most acidic. Numbers above 7 indicate alkalinity which increases as the number increases with 14 being the most alkaline. It is hard to pinpoint when acid rain was first recognized, some say it was first recognized in Sweden in 1872 and some say it was first recognized by the Scottish chemist Robert Angus Smith In 1852, Manchester, England when he first showed the connection between acid rain and atmospheric pollution that happened during his investigation of the chemistry of rainwater that are close to industrial cities in England and Scotland. This…show more content…
Some of these effects are linked to environmental damage while some are linked to damage to human health. One of the first effects is the effect on forests, Acid rain can make plants more vulnerable as it dissolves and washes away the nutrients and minerals in forest soils and in trees which are the ones that help the trees grow so that trees become more vulnerable to disease and environmental stress. A type of soil have a unique characteristic known as the buffering capacity while helps in neutralizing the soil that contains the acid however, some soils are already acidic and these are the ones that are vulnerable to the effects of acid rain. Acid deposition can causes the wearing away of the protective waxy layer found on the surface of leaves which harms the leaves and stops them from being able to do photosynthesis

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