Acid rain is harmful to soil i.e excess of acid in soil can dissolve various soil substrate which cause erosion and result in de-adsorption but benefit is that it tends to reduce the effect of greenhouse effect by reducing the Methane gas production which is a green house gas. Nitrogen given by acid rain is useful for plants. Nitric acid in rain water is an important source of fixed nitrogen for plant life, and is also produced by electrical activity in the atmosphere such as lightning.
The latest study proved that presence of sulphur in acid rain have benefits as it reduces the natural production of methane gases by microbes in wetland areas. Infrared radiation absorbed by methane gas retard the growth of plant Secondly, nitrogen is a primary plant nutrient that plays a major role for the plant growth but nitrogen obtained from the acid rain is in the form of nitrogen oxide not beneficial for the plants.