Where is rain most acidic

Acid rain also contains nitrogen, and this can have an impact on some ecosystems. For example, nitrogen pollution in our coastal waters is partially responsible for declining fish and shellfish populations in some areas. In addition to agriculture and wastewater, much of the nitrogen produced by human activity that reaches coastal waters comes from the atmosphere.

Not all acidic deposition is wet. Sometimes dust particles can become acidic as well, and this is called dry deposition.

When acid rain and dry acidic particles fall to earth, the nitric and sulfuric acid that make the particles acidic can land on statues, buildings, and other manmade structures, and damage their surfaces.

The acidic particles corrode metal and cause paint and stone to deteriorate more quickly. They also dirty the surfaces of buildings and other structures such as monuments.

In the atmosphere, SO 2 and NO X gases can be transformed into sulfate and nitrate particles, while some NO X can also react with other pollutants to form ozone. These particles and ozone make the air hazy and difficult to see through. This affects our enjoyment of national parks that we visit for the scenic view such as Shenandoah and the Great Smoky Mountains.

Technical Announcements. Employees in the News. Emergency Management. Survey Manual. The pH scale measures how acidic an object is. Objects that are not very acidic are called basic.

JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Please click here to see any active alerts. Acid rain, or acid deposition, is a broad term that includes any form of precipitation with acidic components, such as sulfuric or nitric acid that fall to the ground from the atmosphere in wet or dry forms.

This can include rain, snow, fog, hail or even dust that is acidic. Acid rain results when sulfur dioxide SO 2 and nitrogen oxides NO X are emitted into the atmosphere and transported by wind and air currents. These then mix with water and other materials before falling to the ground. While a small portion of the SO 2 and NO X that cause acid rain is from natural sources such as volcanoes, most of it comes from the burning of fossil fuels.

The most acidic rain in the Solar System is found on the planet Venus, where the working fluid in the cycle of evaporation, condensation and precipitation is a sulphuric acid solution rather than water, as on Earth.

The strength of the concentration increases as the altitude of the clouds decreases, meaning that rain on Venus has a pH of around The pH scale is used to specify how acidic or alkaline basic a water-based solution is.