Acid Rain

[Manic Impressive]

What ever happened to acid rain? I remember when I was a kid everyone was always banging on about how acid rain would wipe out all life on earth. Is acid rain still a serious problem? Or is it just another thing that environmentalists exaggerated about?

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

It seems it's still a problem in or adjacent to areas with lax or poorly-enforced air quality regulations:

Wikipedia: Acid rain #History (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain#History)

[Dr Mindbender]

I think it was a trendy crisis. I remember the one before that was the ecologists were preaching about the evils of aerosol sprays with their CFC gases and how they were eating a hole in the ozone layer.

Im pretty sure the ozone layer is self replenishing though.

[Rooster]

Technically, all rain is acidic anyway. I'm not sure how sulphur in the atmosphere would interact with rain though.

[Dr Mindbender]

I'm not sure how sulphur in the atmosphere would interact with rain though.
S(s) + O2(g) ==> SO2(g)
The SO2(g) combines with water to produce sulphurous acid.
H2O(l) + SO2(g) ==> H2SO3(g)

As you said though, acid rain is produced naturally.
H2O(l) + CO2(g) <==> H2CO3(aq)

[Rss]

Technically, all rain is acidic anyway. I'm not sure how sulphur in the atmosphere would interact with rain though.

If I remember correct, all rain in northern Finland is still slightly radioactive due to the Chernobyl fallout.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

If I remember correct, all rain in northern Finland is still slightly radioactive due to the Chernobyl fallout.

How does that compare with the effects of thousands of nuclear weapons tests? Poorly, I see:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/NoXion604/dosage.jpg
Proportion of an average yearly radiation dosage based on the American Institute of Physics handbook. All figures are in mSv.