how does acid rain form?
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acid deposition, form of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, or hail) containing high levels of sulfuric or nitric acids (pH below 5.5—5.6). Produced when sulfur dioxide and various nitrogen oxides combine with atmospheric moisture, acid rain can contaminate drinking water, damage vegetation and aquatic life, and erode buildings and monuments. Automobile exhausts and the burning of high-sulfur industrial fuels are thought to be the main causes, but natural sources, such as volcanic gases and forest fires, may also be significant. It has been an increasingly serious problem since the 1950s, particularly in the NE United States, Canada, and W Europe, especially Scandinavia.
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The rain become more acidic from falling through air pollutants and dissolving them, primarily sulfur dioxide.Combination of wet deposition from the atmosphere of droplets of sulfuric acid and nitric acid dissolved in rain and snow and dry deposition from the atmosphere of particles of sulfate and nitrate salts. These acids and salts are formed when water vapor in the air reacts with the air pollutants sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide(NO2).\n\nBecause of these ingredients, the acid rain can effect the mushroom's growth or development. In certain spesies, such as Amanita muscaria. the acid rain can inhibiting the production of the mushroom's mycelia.\n\nIn fact, according to recent report in Europe, mushroom's population is decreasing in the past 50 years, specificly in 10 of 18 countries.
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Friction, Heat, Acid.
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Acid rain has been shown to have adverse impacts on forests, freshwaters and soils, killing off insect and aquatic lifeforms as well as causing damage to buildings and having possible impacts on human health.\n\n\nSurface Waters and Aquatic Animals:\n\nBoth the lower pH and higher aluminium concentrations in surface water that occur as a result of acid rain can cause damage to fish and other aquatic animals. At pHs lower than 5 most fish eggs will not hatch and lower pHs can kill adult fish. As lakes become more acidic biodiversity is reduced. Acid rain has eliminated insect life and some fish species, including the brook trout in some Appalachian streams and creeks.\n\n\nSoils:\n\nSoil biology can be seriously damaged by acid rain. Some tropical microbes can quickly consume acids but other types of microbe are unable to tolerate low pHs and are killed. The enzymes of these microbes are denatured (changed in shape so they no longer function) by the acid. The hydronium ions of acid rain also mobilize toxins and leach away essential nutrients and minerals.\n\n\nForests and other vegetation:\n\nAcid rain can slow the growth of forests, cause leaves and needles to turn brown and fall off and die. In extreme cases trees or whole areas of forest can die. The death of trees is not usually a direct result of acid rain, often it weakens trees and makes them more susceptible to other threats. Damage to soils (see above) can also cause problems. High altitude forests are especially vulnerable as they are often surrounded by clouds and fog which are more acidic than rain.\n\nOther plants can also be damaged by acid rain but the effect on food crops is minimised by the application of fertilizers to replace lost nutrients. In cultivated areas, limestone may also be added to increase the ability of the soil to keep the pH stable, but this tactic is largely unusable in the case of wilderness lands. Acid Rain depletes minerals from the soil and then it stunts the growth of the plant.\n\n\nHuman health:\n\nSome scientists have suggested direct links to human health, but none have been proven. However, fine particles a large fraction of which are formed from the same gases as acid rain (sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide) have been shown to cause illness and premature deaths.\n\n\nOther adverse effects:\n\nAcid rain can also cause damage to certain building materials and historical monuments. Acid rain can cause erosion on ancient and valuable statues and has caused considerable damage. This is because the sulfuric acid in the rain chemically reacts with the calcium in the stones (limestone, sandstone, marble and granite) to create gypsum, which then flakes off. This is also commonly seen on old gravestones where the acid rain can cause the inscription to become completely illegible. Acid rain also causes an increased rate of oxidation for iron. Visibility is also reduced by sulfate and nitrate in the atmosphere.
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High up in the atmosphere where rain clouds form, the temperature is freezing cold. At these aktltitudes the water can freeze. If there is turbulance a drop of water can freeze and be caught in an updraft. A layer of water can form around the frozen rain drop, freezing too. Thti small ice ball falls within the cloud and gets caught up in another up draft. If this continues a piece of hail is produced. It becomes too heavy to stay up and falls to the ground.\n\nIn still air the water is  in vapor form and as the temperature falls below freezing point, molecules of water coalesse and form crystals. If the air is freezing cold all the way to the ground, these crystals fall as snow. If the temperature is slightly above freezing point these crystals melt and form sleet.
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Problem State: \n68 million acres of forest damaged or destroyed by acid rain \n\nAcid rain is caused primarily by the emission of sulfur dioxide from coal-fired power plants. There are a number of remedies, including: switching fuel sources to natural gas, oil, or renewable energy sources; switching to low-sulfur coal; removing the sulfur from the coal before burning; using fluidized-bed combustion processes to burn the coal; and removing the sulfur from the smoke stack after combustion through the installation of pollution control equipment such as "scrubbers." \n\nCosts/Benefits \n\nA combination of tax incentives, government regulations and direct assistance that results in pollution-control equipment being placed on all coal combustion sites, increases in efficiency of industrial processes, transportation and appliances would cost approximately $8 billion per year for ten years. This is about 1% of the world's total military expenditures.
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The effect of acid rain on Spirogyra-It is found that the concentrations of the sulfuic acid rain simulation damaged the Spirogyra cell structure to a greater degree than the nitric acid. Though the nitric acid rain simulation had\nsimilar damaging effects to cell structure and color, in both concentrations and pH levels, the sulfuric acid\nseemed to create greater cell damage and therefore would be considered more harmful to plant life.Sulfuric acid is more harmful to the cellular structureof Spirogyra than nitric acid. These findings are important because among other things, they show that acid rain negatively affects our ecosystem because it damages the most basic levels of the food chain and thus jeopardizes the higher forms of life. Acid rain also causes changes to the atmosphere, more\npollution, and damages trees, which absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
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HOW ACID RAIN IS FORMED\n\nAcid rain is caused by the release of the gases SO2 (sulphur dioxide) and NOX (nitrous oxides). The main sources of SO2 in South Africa are coal-fired power stations and metal working industries. The main sources of NOX emissions are vehicles and fuel combustion.\n\nSulphur dioxide reacts with water vapour and sunlight to form sulphuric acid. Likewise NOX form nitric acid in the air. These reactions takes hours, or even days, during which polluted air may move hundreds of kilometres. Thus acid rain can fall far from the source of pollution. \n\nWhen mist or fog droplets condense they will remove pollutants from the air and can become more strongly acid than acid rain. Even snow can be acid. Gases and particles, not dissolved in water, with a low pH can also be deposited directly onto soil, grass and leaves. It is possible that even more acidity is deposited in this way than by rain! Not much is known about this process, and it is particularly difficult to study.\n\nhttp://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/Envfacts/facts/acidrain.htm\n\nhttp://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/Envfacts/facts/acidrain.htm
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err..well if you mean as in..acid rain..\nin most areas in the US, rain is slightly acidic.\nIf the rain is unpolluted, then the acidity comes from a weak acid called Carbonic Acid which forms when carbon dioxide reacts with the water. Any extra acidity in rain is a result of pollutants. The two main chemical components are nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides which react with water to form nitric acids and sulfuric acids. These pollutants come from cars, buses, all that kind of stuff. (:
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The process that leads to acid rain begins with the burning of fossil fuels. Burning, or combustion, is a chemical reaction in which oxygen from the air combines with carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and other elements in the substance being burned. The new compounds formed are gases called oxides. When sulfur and nitrogen are present in the fuel, their reaction with oxygen yields sulfur dioxide and various nitrogen oxide compounds. In the United States, 70 percent of sulfur dioxide pollution comes from power plants, especially those that burn coal. In Canada, industrial activities, including oil refining and metal smelting, account for 61 percent of sulfur dioxide pollution. Nitrogen oxides enter the atmosphere from many sources, with motor vehicles emitting the largest share—43 percent in the United States and 60 percent in Canada.\n\nOnce in the atmosphere, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides undergo complex reactions with water vapor and other chemicals to yield sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and other pollutants called nitrates and sulfates. The acid compounds are carried by air currents and the wind, sometimes over long distances. When clouds or fog form in acid-laden air, they too are acidic, and so is the rain or snow that falls from them. \n\nAcid pollutants also occur as dry particles and as gases, which may reach the ground without the help of water. When these “dry” acids are washed from ground surfaces by rain, they add to the acids in the rain itself to produce a still more corrosive solution. The combination of acid rain and dry acids is known as acid deposition.\n\nKKG
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even if the air isnt polluted, there is still carbon dioxide and water vapor in the air.  When carbon dioxide(CO2) and water(H2O) react in air, they form Carbonic Acid (H2CO3).  Since it is an acid, it is acidic
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Check the link below.  It can be formed through volcanic activity as well as crystallizing out of mineral rich water deposits.  It is almost pure iron that is oxidized.
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where the precipitate is formed you have a chemical reaction because the precipitate signals it, there are also color changes and temp changes that can signal to you that it is a chemical raction.\n\n\nthe other one is a physical reaction
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It tends to be over land, because precipitation forms because of water saturation of the atmosphere; this doesn't really change too much on the open ocean.  But inland, there is a loss of water saturation, therefore clouds containing saturated water will tend to precipitate water (rain).
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Well water can over time through a process called weathering, other than that acid is excellent, that is how acid rain is effecting us.\nAlso salt and a number of other chemicals and solvents.
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"Cloud Condensation Nuclei"\n\nThese are the suspended particles that water condenses around in order to form a rain drop. It may be dust, smoke, salt, or any other solid that is in aerosol form in the atmosphere.
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It reacts when in contact with any acid material. When combined with an acid, it forms a salt.