Acid RAin

History
• The phrase acid rain or acid deposition or acid precipitation was first used in 1852 by Scottish
chemist Robert Angus Smith during his investigation of rainwater chemistry near industrial cities
in England and Scotland. The phenomenon became an important part of his book Air and Rain:
The Beginnings of a Chemical Climatology (1872). It was not until the late 1960s and early 1970s
that acid rain was recognized as a regional environmental issue affecting large areas of
western Europe and eastern North America.

• Acid rain also occurs in Asia and parts of Africa, South America, and Australia. As a global
environmental issue, it is frequently overshadowed by climate change. Although the problem of
acid rain has been significantly reduced in some areas, it remains an important environmental issue
within and downwind of major industrial and industrial agricultural regions worldwide.
 Definition
Acid Rain, as the name suggests, can be said as the precipitation of acid in the form
of rain in the simplest manner. When atmospheric pollutants like oxides of nitrogen
and sulfur react with rainwater and come down with the rain, then this results in
Acid Rain.

Acid rain is made up of highly acidic water droplets due to air emissions, most
specifically the disproportionate levels of sulfur and nitrogen emitted by vehicles
and manufacturing processes. It is often called acid rain as this concept contains
many types of acidic precipitation.
 Types of Acid Rain

The acidic deposition takes place in two ways:

• Wet deposition: Wet deposition is any form of precipitation that removes

acids from the atmosphere and places them on the surface of the earth.

• Dry deposition: In the absence of precipitation, dry deposition of polluting

particles and gases sticks to the ground through dust and smoke.
 Chemistry of Acid Deposition
• Acid rain is a popular expression for the more scientific term acid
deposition, which refers to the many ways in which acidity can move from
the atmosphere to Earth’s surface. Acid deposition includes acidic rain as
well as other forms of acidic wet deposition—such as snow, sleet, hail,
and fog (or cloud water). Acid deposition also includes the dry deposition of
acidic particles and gases, which can affect landscapes during dry periods.
Thus, acid deposition is capable of affecting landscapes and the living
things that reside within them even when precipitation is not occurring.
• Acidity is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions (H+) in

a solution. The pH scale measures whether a solution is acidic or basic.

Substances are considered acidic below a pH of 7, and each unit of pH

below 7 is 10 times more acidic, or has 10 times more H+, than the unit

above it. For example, rainwater with a pH of 5.0 has a concentration of 10

micro-equivalents of H+ per liter, whereas rainwater with a pH of 4.0 has a

concentration of 100 micro-equivalents of H+ per liter.

• Normal rainwater is weakly acidic because of the absorption of carbon
dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere—a process that produces carbonic acid—and
from organic acids generated from biological activity. In addition, volcanic
activity can produce sulfuric acid (H2SO4), nitric acid (HNO3), and hydrochloric
acid (HCl) depending on the emissions associated with specific volcanoes. Other
natural sources of acidification include the production of nitrogen oxides from the
conversion of atmospheric molecular nitrogen (N2) by lightning and the
conversion of organic nitrogen by wildfires. However, the geographic extent of
any given natural source of acidification is small, and in most cases, it lowers the
pH of precipitation to no more than about 5.2.
• Anthropogenic activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural
gas) and the smelting of metal ores, are the major causes of acid deposition. In
the United States, electric utilities produce nearly 70 percent of SO2 and about 20
percent of NOx emissions. Fossil fuels burned by vehicles account for nearly 60
percent of NOx emissions in the United States. In the atmosphere, sulfuric and
nitric acids are generated when SO2 and NOx, respectively, react with water. The
simplest reactions are:
SO2 + H2O → H2SO4 ←→ H+ + HSO4- ←→ 2H+ + SO42-
NO2 + H2O → HNO3 ←→ H+ + NO3¯
These reactions in the aqueous phase (for example, in cloud water) create wet
deposition products. In the gaseous phase, they can produce acidic dry deposition.
An acid formation can also occur on particles in the atmosphere.
Sulphur Cycle
• Where fossil fuel consumption is large and emission controls are not
in place to reduce SO2 and NOx emissions, the acid deposition will
occur in areas downwind of emission sources, often hundreds to
thousands of kilometers away. In such areas, the pH of precipitation
can average from 4.0 to 4.5 annually, and the pH of individual rain
events can sometimes drop below 3.0. In addition, cloud water and fog
in polluted areas may be many times more acidic than rain falling over
the same region.
Nitrogen Cycle
• Many air pollution and atmospheric deposition problems are intertwined with one another, and these problems
are often derived from the same cause, namely the burning of fossil fuels. In addition to acid deposition,
NOx emissions along with hydrocarbon emissions are key ingredients in ground-
level ozone (photochemical smog) formation, which is one of the most widespread forms of air pollution. The
SO2 and NOx emissions can generate fine particulates, which are harmful to human respiratory
systems. Coal combustion is the leading source of atmospheric mercury, which also enters ecosystems by wet
and dry deposition. (A number of other heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium, and various particulates are
also products of unregulated fossil fuel combustion)

• Acid deposition of nitrogen derived from NOx emissions creates additional environmental problems. For
example, many lakes, estuarine, and coastal marine systems receive too much nitrogen from atmospheric
deposition and terrestrial runoff. This eutrophication (or over-enrichment) causes the overgrowth of plants
and algae. When these organisms die and decompose, they deplete the dissolved oxygen supply necessary for
most aquatic life in water bodies. Eutrophication is considered to be a major environmental problem in lake,
coastal marine, and estuarine ecosystems worldwide.
 Effects of Acid Rain
• Acid rain is very harmful to agriculture, plants, and animals. It washes away all
nutrients which are required for the growth and survival of plants. Acid rain
affects agriculture in the way it alters the composition of the soil.
• It causes respiratory issues in animals and humans.
• When acid rain falls down and flows into the rivers and ponds it affects the
aquatic ecosystem. It alters the chemical composition of the water, to a form
that is actually harmful to the aquatic ecosystem to survive and causes water
pollution.
• Acid rain also causes the corrosion of water pipes, which further results in the
leaching of heavy metals such as iron, lead, and copper into drinking water.
• It damages the buildings and monuments made up of stones and metals.
 Real-Life Examples
• Acid deposition affects human-made structures. The most notable effects occur on marble and limestone,
which are common building materials found in many historic structures, monuments, and gravestones. Sulfur
dioxide, an acid rain precursor, can react directly with limestone in the presence of water to form gypsum,
which eventually flakes off or is dissolved by water. In addition, acid rain can dissolve limestone and marble
through direct contact.

• Taj Mahal, one of the 7 wonders of the world, is largely affected by acid rain. The city of Agra has many
industries which emit toxic oxides of sulfur and nitrogen into the atmosphere. People continue to use low-
quality coal and firewood as domestic fuels, adding to this problem. Acid rain has the following reaction with
the marble (calcium carbonate):

CaCO3(s) + H2SO4(l) → CaSO4(s) + H2O(l) + CO2(g)

• The formation of calcium sulfate results in the corrosion of this beautiful monument.
 Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty which is made of copper has also been damaged

by the cumulative action of acid rain and oxidation for over 30 years

and is, therefore, becoming green.

 Effects on Lakes
• The regional effects of acid deposition were first noted in parts of
western Europe and eastern North America in the late 1960s and early 1970s when
changes in the chemistry of rivers and lakes, often in remote locations, were linked
to declines in the health of aquatic organisms such as resident fish, crayfish,
and clam populations. Increasing amounts of acid deposition in sensitive areas
caused tens of thousands of lakes and streams in Europe and North America to
become much more acidic than they had been in previous decades. Acid-sensitive
areas are those that are predisposed to acidification because the region’s soils have
a low buffering capacity, or low acid-neutralizing capacity (ANC).
• In addition, acidification can release aluminum bound to soils, which in its dissolved form can be toxic to
both plant and animal life. High concentrations of dissolved aluminum released from soils often enter
streams and lakes. In conjunction with rising acidity in aquatic environments, aluminum can damage
fish gills and thus impair respiration. In the Adirondack Mountain region of New York state, research has
shown that the number of fish species drops from five in lakes with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0 to only one in lakes
with a pH of 4.0 to 4.5. Other organisms are also negatively affected, so acidified bodies of water lose plant
and animal diversity overall. These effects can ripple throughout the food chain.
• High acidity, especially from sulfur deposition, can accelerate the conversion of elemental mercury to its
deadliest form: methyl mercury, a neurological toxin. This conversion most commonly occurs
in wetlands and water-saturated soils where low-oxygen environments provide ideal conditions for the
formation of methyl mercury by bacteria. Methyl mercury concentrates in organisms as it moves up
the food chain, a phenomenon known as bioaccumulation. Small concentrations of methyl mercury present
in phytoplankton and zooplankton accumulate in the fat cells of the animals that consume them. Since
animals at higher tiers of the food chain must always consume large numbers of organisms from lower
ones, the concentrations of methylmercury in top predators, which often include humans, increase to levels
where they could become harmful.
The bioaccumulation of methylmercury in the tissues of fishes is the leading
reason for government health advisories that recommend
reduced consumption of fish from fresh and marine waters.

• In addition, aquatic acidification may be episodic, especially in colder

climates. Sulfuric and nitric acid accumulating in a snowpack can leach out
rapidly during the initial snowmelt and result in a pulse of acidic meltwater.
Such pulses may be much more acidic than any individual snowfall event
over the course of a winter, and these events can be deadly to acid-sensitive
aquatic organisms throughout the food web.
 Control Measures
• The only precaution that we can take against acid rain is having a check on the emission of oxides of nitrogen and sulfur.
i. Use less energy (hence less fuel burnt)
ii. Use cleaner fuels
iii. Remove oxides of sulfur and oxides of nitrogen before releasing
(a) Flue gas desulphurization
(b) Catalytic Converters
• Use cleaner fuels
i. Coal that contains less sulfur.
ii. “Washing” the coal to reduce sulfur content
iii. Natural Gas
• Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD)
i. Removes sulfur dioxide from flue gas (waste gases)
ii. Consists of a wet scrubber and a reaction tower equipped with a fan that extracts hot smoky stack gases from a power plant
into the tower
iii. Lime or limestone (calcium carbonate) in slurry form is injected into the tower to mix with the stack gases and reacts with
the sulfur dioxide present
iv. Produces pH-neutral calcium sulphate that is physically removed from the scrubber

v. Sulphates can be used for industrial purposes

• Being responsible citizens, one should be aware of the harmful effects they cause and of the industries which give out nitrogen and
sulfur compound wastes unethically.

• Alternative energy sources should be used, such as solar and wind power. Renewable sources of energy are helping to reduce acid
rain, as they produce much fewer emissions. There are other electricity sources as well, such as nuclear power, hydropower, and
geothermal energy. Among these, the most extensive use is among nuclear and hydropower.

• Reducing the effects of Acid Rain by Liming

i. Powdered limestone/limewater added to water and soil to neutralize acid