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Acid rain
Every type of material will become eroded sooner or later by the effects of the climate. Water, wind, ice and snow all help in the erosion process but unfortunately; acid rain can help to make this natural process even quicker. Statues, buildings, vehicles, pipes and cables can all suffer.
The worst affected are things made from limestone or sandstone, they can be affected by air pollution in gaseous form as well as by acid rain. Furthermore it can corrode metal structure and erode cement, limestone and marble buildings.
Buildings
Acid rain impacts crop growth and soil structure. It can affect the growth of plants as many plants have a specific soil PH for growth. In addition it can take out nutrients from the topsoil, into the groundwater and into the water table. Acid precipitation can change the balance in soils affecting their structure.
Organisms
Enviroment
Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are inhaled and cause increase in your heart and lungs conditions, acidic rain can also damage trees at high elevations. An acid rain damaged forest contains fewer environmental niches for wildlife. It also reduces the reduction of predators prey caused by the reduction of fish. Acid water affects the growth and health of fish and other aquatic life by reducing the ph of the water and impacting the health and breeding success.
Solutions
Conserving resources • Greater subsidies of public transport by the government to encourage people to use public transport rather than always travelling by car. • Every individual can make an effort to save energy by switching off lights when they are not being used and using energy-saving appliances - when less electricity is being used, pollution from power plants decreases. • Walking, cycling and sharing cars all reduce the pollution from vehicles
Find alternative sources of energy • Governments need to invest in researching different ways to produce energy. • Two other sources that are currently used are hydroelectric and nuclear power. These are 'clean' as far as acid rain goes but what other impact do they have on our environment? • Other sources could be solar energy or windmills but how reliable would these be in places where it is not very windy or sunny? • All energy sources have different benefits and costs and all theses have to be weighed up before any government decides which of them it is going to use.
Reduce emissions: • Burning fossil fuels is still one of the cheapest ways to produce electricity so people are now researching new ways to burn fuel which don't produce so much pollution. • Governments need to spend more money on pollution control even if it does mean an increase in the price of electricity. • Sulphur can also be 'washed' out of smoke by spraying a mixture of water and powdered limestone into the smokestack. • Cars are now fitted with catalytic converters which remove three dangerous chemicals from exhaust gases.
