Acid Rain
ACID RAIN Acid rain is a form of precipitation that falls to the earth as rain. For rain to be acidic it has to have a pH level of less that 5. ... The corrosive nature of acid rain causes widespread damage to the environment. ... When these pollutants are in the air, they react with water and other chemicals, to form sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and other pollutants. Once these pollutants are in the air, they can travel for many miles, and when rain clouds get to heavy to hold all the moisture they drop their deadly load of chemicals onto the earth in a form of rain, snow, hail or fog. The formation of acid rain starts off with the burning of fossil fuels. ... When looking at the effects of acid rain there is a scale that scientists use. ... Pure water has a neutral pH of 7 and it is neither an acid nor a base. Rain, snow, hail etc with a pH value below 5.6 is considered acid rain. If there are high acids and high bases in the air, they mix and form normal rain when they fall to earth. ... When rain falls with a pH near 5.6, the alkaline chemicals in the environment, found in rocks, soil etc absorb and neutralize the acidic rain.