Question

The acid present in acid rain dissolves _______ metals such as Al, Mn, Pb, Zn, etc.

Answer 1

Acid rain:

Acid Rain is defined as the precipitation of acid in the form of rain. When atmospheric pollutants like oxides of nitrogen and sulphur react with rainwater and come down with the rain, this results in Acid Rain. The causes of acid rain are Sulfur and Nitrogen particles which get mixed with the wet components of rain.$\underset{(\mathrm{sulphur}\mathrm{dioxide})}{2{\mathrm{SO}}_2}+\underset{\left(\mathrm{oxygen}\right)}{{\mathrm{O}}_2}+\underset{\left(\mathrm{water}\right)}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}\to \underset{(\mathrm{sulphuric}\mathrm{acid})}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4}$

Acids present in Acid rain:

• The two strong acids present in the acid rain are nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide.
• These two gases react with water in the atmosphere and oxygen in the air to form sulphuric acid and nitric acid, resulting in a chain reaction.
• Sulfuric acid and nitric acid are the results of the process when these two gases react with water in the environment and oxygen.
• We’ll show the first reaction, which occurs when sulphur dioxide combines with water and oxygen. The reaction then produces sulfuric acid as a by-product.

$\underset{(\mathrm{sulphur}\mathrm{dioxide})}{2{\mathrm{SO}}_2}+\underset{\left(\mathrm{oxygen}\right)}{{\mathrm{O}}_2}+\underset{\left(\mathrm{water}\right)}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}\to \underset{(\mathrm{sulphuric}\mathrm{acid})}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4}$

• We’ll see what happens when nitrogen oxide dioxide combines with water and oxygen in the next process. The process then produces nitric acid as a by-product.

$\underset{(\mathrm{nitrogen}\mathrm{dioxide})}{4{\mathrm{NO}}_2}+\underset{\left(\mathrm{oxygen}\right)}{{\mathrm{O}}_2}+\underset{\left(\mathrm{water}\right)}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}\to \underset{(\mathrm{nitric}\mathrm{acid})}{4{\mathrm{HNO}}_3}$

Conclusion: The acid present in acid rain dissolves heavy metals such as Al, Mn, Pb, Zn, etc.