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What is Acid Rain?
Acid rain is rain, snow, fog or dry particles and gases that is polluted by acid in the atmosphere and damages the environment. Acid rain damages surface waters (lakes, rivers, streams) and the fish and animals living in them, other living things like plants, forests and soils, materials and structures (marble, limestone, sandstone, metals, paints, textiles, ceramic, leather, rubber), and especially human health through the atmosphere as we breathe or through the soil where the food we eat was grown from.
Acid rain is formed when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides react with water, oxygen and other chemicals in the atmosphere to form strong acidic compunds such as nitric and sulfuric acids. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, once released into the atmosphere, can be carried over long distances (can be hundred of miles), then will return to the earth as acidic rain, snow, fog or dust.
EPA - Environmental Protection Agency
- Acid Rain
- Effects of Acid Rain
- Effects of Acid Rain: Lakes & Streams
- Effects of Acid Rain: Forests
- The Effects of Acid Rain on Automotive Coatings
- Effects of Acid Rain: Materials
- Effects of Acid Rain: Visibility Reduction
- Effects of Acid Rain: Human Health
EC - Environment Canada
- Acid Rain
- Acid Rain and the Facts
- Acid Rain and Water
- Acid Rain and Forests
- Acid Rain and Air Quality
- Acid Rain and your Health
- Acid Rain and Case Studies
The Swedish NGO Secretariat on Acid Rain
- The acidification problem
USGS
- Primer on acid rain
- What is acid rain?
- Causes, Effects, and Solutions of Acid Rain
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