Question

Ashok had a garden in his house and he took real good care of the plants in his garden. It so happened that he couldn't really look after his plants for a few days because of incessant rains in his place. When he finally went to check up on his plants, he noticed that instead of growing up, they had drooped and the leaves had turned pale green. He also observed that the lustrous white marble pillars of his house had lost its shine and turned yellowish. He collected the water sample when it rained again and found that blue litmus paper turned red upon exposing it to the collected water.
What could be the possible reasons for his observations?

• A. Acid rains caused due to excessive burning of fossil fuels.
• B. Due to water pollution- the polluted water turned acidic while evaporating and came down as acid rain.
• C. Due to formation of acid when carbon dioxide reacted with nitrogen in the presence of water vapour and sunlight.
• D. Due to formation of dilute sulphuric acid and nitric acid in the atmosphere.

Answer 1

Answer: (A), (D)

Due to formation of dilute sulphuric acid and nitric acid in the atmosphere.

Acid rain is any form of precipitation that has significant levels of nitric and sulphuric acids. Acid rain can be in the form of fog, rain, snow, and small dry material bits that settle on the Earth. Acid rain has a pH between 4.2 to 4.4, while average rainfall has a pH of 5.6.

Human activities are the biggest reason behind acid rain. Burning of fossil fuels, factories and automobiles are the main causes of acid rain. Some natural causes of acid rain include chemicals released due to rotting of vegetables and volcanic eruptions.