Acid Rain
Acid rain forms when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides dissolve in rainwater, damaging forests, lakes and buildings.
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Play with the controls to see the idea in action.
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Acid rain forms when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides dissolve in rainwater, damaging forests, lakes and buildings.
- pH below 5.6
- Kills fish and trees
- Scrubbers reduce emissions
🧠 Quick quiz
Three questions. Score 2 or more to complete the topic.
What is Acid Rain?
Within Earth & Environmental Science, which covers our planet, its resources and ecosystems, and how people can protect the environment, this topic explains Acid Rain. Earth and environment topics show how the planet’s systems shape landscapes, climate and life, with models that make these processes visible.
Check that you can explain Acid Rain in your own words and give one example from everyday life. If you can do that, you have understood the core idea.
Understanding Acid Rain helps you explain the environment around you and weigh up how people can protect it.
Acid Rain in detail
Acid rain is rain, snow or other precipitation with a pH lower than normal (below about 5.6). It is caused by sulfur dioxide, released from burning coal and oil, and nitrogen oxides, from vehicles and power stations, which react with water, oxygen and other chemicals in the atmosphere to form sulfuric and nitric acids.
Effects include acidifying lakes and rivers, killing fish, damaging forests by harming leaves and releasing toxic aluminium from soils, and corroding buildings and statues, especially limestone. It can travel across borders, so international agreements have been needed. Solutions include removing sulfur from fuels, flue-gas desulfurisation, catalytic converters and switching to cleaner energy.
How the interactive helps you understand Acid Rain
Watch the pH scale in the interactive. Use any sliders or buttons it offers to change the values and see how the pH scale responds.
Before you change anything, predict the result. Then change one value at a time and check whether your prediction was right. This is a quick way to build a correct mental model of Acid Rain.
Real-life uses and examples
- Explain how Acid Rain affects the landscape or climate near you.
- Link Acid Rain to a real environmental problem and a possible solution.
- Use a diagram of Acid Rain to describe the steps of a process in order.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Describing a process without the timescale it works over.
- Presenting one cause as the only cause of an environmental change.
- Learning the definition without testing it. Use the quiz and the interactive to check that you can apply the idea.
Frequently asked questions about Acid Rain
What is Acid Rain?
Acid rain forms when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides dissolve in rainwater, damaging forests, lakes and buildings.
What are the most important points about Acid Rain?
The main points are: pH below 5.6; Kills fish and trees; Scrubbers reduce emissions.
Why is Acid Rain useful?
Understanding Acid Rain helps you explain the environment around you and weigh up how people can protect it.
How can I practise Acid Rain?
Open the interactive at the top of this page and change the controls one at a time. Predict the result before each change, then take the three-question quiz. A score of two or more marks the topic as complete on this device.
Which topics are related to Acid Rain?
Related topics in Earth & Environmental Science include Soil Erosion and Degradation, Fishing and Aquaculture, Ecological Footprint.