Acid rain, or acid desposition, is simply common rainfall that has been polluted sufficiently by atmospheric pollution. Acid rain contains two types of acids: nitric and sulfuric. These chemicals, or precursors, are emited by natural sources such as volcanoes and decaying vegetation. Man-made sources are also primary causes for emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that come from fossil fuel combustion. The most common emiters of these fossil fuels are power plants, factories and automobiles. Acid rain does not only degrade the environment, it causes negative issues on political, social and economic factors.
Forests are affected greatly by the impacts of acid rain. Through years of research, scientists, foresters and environmentalists have discovered how acid rain has slowed down the growth of some forests and plants. The effects acid rain has on trees is change of colour and in some extreme cases the individual trees die off completely. Soil degradation is also an effect of acid rain, which means the soil in which the vegetation grows has been implicated with acidic chemicals from the rain. The acid in the rain does not kill the trees directly. Instead, it slowly damages and injures the tree’s leaves and parts by limiting them from their nutrients. A survery conducted in 1983 in West
Germany showed that 34% of all the trees in that area have been polluted by air pollution.
(Elmhurst.edu) The harmful substances in the soil also end up being washed off into rivers and lakes. The ecological effects of acid rain are always more visible in aquatic environments such as streams, lakes, and marshes. Many lakes and rivers are already acidic without the effects of acid rain. Their pH levels go up to 6 and 8. Once a stream or lake has been affected by acid rain, the organisms living in the aquatic environment begin to die out. The solution to decreasing the amount of damages acid rain has on the environment is to lower the sulfur