Acid Rain Causes

“The world will see the fury when the earth parts to reveal its melting innards and skies shower acid in its womb, the Lord Himself would appear and that shall be your Judgment Day.” If you thought all this to be a heightened state of melodrama, you are wrong.  Well, part of it can be called, but not entirely. The part which deals with showering acid into earth’s womb, is no melodrama, whatsoever. That is a rather dangerous phenomenon called the acid rains. Acid rain means any form of precipitation that is unusually acidic in nature. Acid rain is identified with elevated levels of hydrogen ions and a low pH balance. This rain is caused by high emissions of compounds like ammonium, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur, into the air, which react with rainwater droplets in the air and causes the formation of harmful acids that come down as acid rain. The effect of this rain on plants, aquatic animals and infrastructure is massive and destructive. The major cause of this phenomenon is sulfur, which began entering the atmosphere in large amounts during the Industrial Revolution. This sudden increase in sulfur emission in the atmosphere and its relationship with acid rain was first discovered by Scottish chemist, Robert Angus Smith, in 1852. The term “acid rain” was coined in 1972 and since then governments across the world have been trying to keep a check on sulfuric emissions from various plants. Here are few chief reasons causing acid rain.

What Causes Acid Rain 

 

Production plants, using coal as their primary fuel, all over the world produce 100 million tons of sulfur dioxide, which roughly amount to 70% of that existing in the world. This sulfur dioxide moves upwards and then stays suspended in the air, till it reacts with water to form acid. On condensation, these acid droplets form acid rains and cause havoc on earth.

 

Automobiles usage has been on a constant increase for the past decade or so and now, they produce about half of the world’s total emission of nitrogen oxide. More the vehicles, more is the emission of nitrogen oxide, which, in turn, reacts with the water droplets in the atmosphere and causes the creation of acid. These droplets strike earth as acid rains.

Burning of fossil fuels also contribute to the emission of nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere. These fuels can be burned by various plants in huge quantities or in smaller quantities by individuals. But the compounded effect is much more than the environment can take. With the constant increase in population and emergence of nuclear families, not only the number of automobiles has gone up, but also the number of kitchens and hence, the emission of gases has significantly increased.

 

Fires that occur naturally in forests and over oil-wells destroy significant resources. And along with that they also contribute heartily towards formation of acids in the atmosphere, which later come down as acid rain. The gases produced in these fires are equally dangerous, because though the fire may be natural, the phenomenon is not much different from the man-made ones.

 

Volcanic eruptions cough up major quantities of acid-forming gases. The lava that flows out of a volcano is nothing but a composition of melted minerals. These minerals lay under the surface of earth under unimaginably huge temperatures. They always move in a semi-solid state and when this semi-solid composition of minerals finds a vent in the earth’s crust, it bursts out into the atmosphere. And along with this composition emerges out the gases that accompany the melted minerals - sulfuric gas, being the most prominent one.

 

This is another phenomenon that can also be called man-made to an extent, but cannot be stopped on account of being so. Animals and other living beings die or are accidentally or intentionally killed all the time. These bodies are not given a proper burial and are often not consumed as well. With time, these bodies become hosts to various kinds of bacteria, which cause decomposition of the body. This decomposition also leads to release of dangerous gases or fumes, which later go on to cause acid rain.