Welcome to my page designated to furthering your understanding of just what acid preciptitation (more commonly known as acid rain) is, and more importantly, why you should care about it.  There's lots in store for you, such as:

- a simple definition of what acid rain is and how it is formed
- plenty of graphics and images that will contribute to your understanding of
just how devastating the damage due to acid rain can be
- links to interesting sites where you can learn more about this topic
- and last but certainly not least, my wonderful research paper

Actually, this page contains much of what I found over the course of my research, so it is essentially just another form of my paper.  However, there are some topics addressed here on the page and additional information given that is not found in my research paper.  Well, in any case, a link will be provided to the full text version of my paper, for your reading pleasure of course.  So be sure to check that out before you go.

Let's begin at the beginning, with that simple definition.  Acid rain refers to precipitation that has a pH value below a normal value.  It is important to remember that the pH of even "clean" rain is not 7.0; rather, it is somewhere around 5.6.  This discrepancy is due to the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  Acid precipitation is formed as a result of the burning of fossil fuels.  When these fuels are burned, sulfur and nitrogen oxides (SOx and NOx) are formed.  A particularly problematic compound is sulfur dioxide, SO2.  These compounds then react in the atmosphere and are oxidized to form sulfuric and nitric acids, which fall to earth as acid rain.  The harmful precipitation can fall to earth close to the source, or as far as about a thousand miles away.  Keep in mind that "acid rain" is somewhat of a misnomer -- the acids formed high in the atmosphere can fall to earth in forms of precipitation other than rain.  In fact, in some cases, dry acid fallout can be more detrimental to the environment than is acid rain.
A simple diagram of the processes described above can really bring these ideas together.

Now that you know what acid rain is, click here to move onto the next page,
where you will learn about some of the effects it can have on the
environment.