Physical Effects Of Acid Rain

Introduction:
Acid rain increases the rate of corrosion on statues made of certain material. The town council wants to build a statue that will not be affected by acid rain. In this experiment, three different types of rock are used on vinegar (acting as acid rain). The rocks used are marble, granite, and red sandstone, which are the most popular forms of rocks used to build monuments. Each type of rock will be submerged under 20 ml of vinegar in their own separate container. The pH of acid rain around 4.0. Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are released into the air. When these compounds are mixed with rain it is known as acid rain. Acid rain mostly affects the ocean and animals within that area.
The independent variable in this experiment is the type of rock. These rocks include, marble, granite, and red sandstone. The dependent variable is the pH balance of the vinegar and water. pH paper testing strips were used to determine the pH balance. Water was used as the control. This is needed in this experiment because it minimizes the changes in the other variables other than the one being tested. Also, it is used to compare the pH balance of each material. The constants in the experiment were 20 ml of vinegar, 20 ml of water, three rocks in each container, the amount of time the rocks spent in the liquids, and pH paper was used to test all of the pH
If granite is used to build the statue, then it will have a lesser effect on the acid rain because it is most malleable. The hypothesis was correct because granite turned out to be the best one to use. The malleable quality of the granite was supported because the rock did not break down while in the vinegar or water. However, the red sandstone and marble had broken down throughout the experiment. For the initial pH of the rocks, all of them were at 2, which is very acidic. Once the experiment was done, marble and red sandstone both had a final pH of 5, change in 3. Granite had a final pH of 2, change in 0. As for the control group, the initial pH was 6 for all the rocks. Marble and granite has a final pH of 5, change in 1. Red sandstone had a final pH of 4, change in 2. The measurements of the control were 20 ml of water for each of the rocks and they validate the experiment because it was the same measurements of the vinegar. The substance that was most affected by the acid was the red sandstone. The red sandstone had the same change in pH as the marble material while using vinegar. However, the control group helped provide even more evidence that this material isn't the best because the change in pH went down by 2. Granite should be the best material to use for building a statue. It had no change in pH when touched by the vinegar, which acted as acid