[Music] whoa [Music] yeah did you see that friends it's raining acid out there well i know what you guys must be thinking is it really possible or am i just cooking a fictional story well acid rain is a real thing and can harm our environment so in today's episode let us learn more about this haunting aspect of nature and explore a vital topic we call acid rain zoom in so what is this phenomenon with a terrifying name called the acid rain well we all know that rain clouds are formed of pure water but sometimes gases such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide chemically reacts with the water and oxygen in the atmosphere and fall back to earth in the form of acid rain a shower which we don't want to take the type of acid rain that contains water is called wet deposition whereas acid rain formed with dust or gases is called dry deposition but how do these gases reach the atmosphere in the first place well there are two main sources for it first is the natural source like rotting vegetation and erupting volcanoes release some chemicals that can cause acid rain but most acid rain is a product of human activities like burning of fossil fuels smoke coming from vehicles and chemicals released from the factories and now comes the most crucial question and that is what causes the rain to turn acidic well it's important to understand that normal rain is already a little acidic yes my friends while falling towards the ground the rain dissolves carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that forms carbonic acid with a ph of six but when we burn fossil fuels that release gases such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide a much stronger acid gets into our rain to form acid rain with ph 3 which increases the acidity of rain significantly high still confused okay let's try to understand it with an example [Music] you see plants intake some sulfur to grow that they obtain from potassium sulfate already present in the soil the sulfate is consumed through the roots as the sulfur atoms bond with carbon atoms in the leaves protein and after millions of years when these plants eventually die and turn into coal these sulfur atoms and carbon atoms remain intact and when we burn the fossils of these dead plants the sulfur and carbon atoms mix with the oxygen in the air and are released into the atmosphere as sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide and when the sunlight hits these gases a chemical reaction takes place where the sulfur dioxide reacts with more oxygen to form sulfur trioxide that eventually mixes with the rain water to create sulfuric acid similarly when our vehicles release nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere they react with more oxygen and mixes with rain water to form nitric acid and now we know how the rain turns acidic so let us now learn its effect on our environment acid rain has many ecological effects primarily on lakes rivers and other aquatic environments acid rain makes such waters more acidic which results in more aluminum absorption from the soil which is carried into lakes and rivers making the water toxic for the aquatic animals to survive not only that acid rains harm forests as well by damaging leaves and rubbing the soil of essential nutrients and making it difficult for trees to consume water so now the main concern is what can we do to stop acid rains well the one easy step we can take is just reducing the burning of fossil fuels that will decrease the number of pollutants responsible for acid rains and the next thing is to share this video with your friends and family to spread awareness about it as we now feature trip your time did you know acid rain damages buildings monuments and statues especially those made of limestone and marble as they contain large amounts of calcium carbonates the calcium compounds react with the acid in the rain damaging them yes exhaust gases from the mathura refinery greatly affected the taj mahal at agra and changed its color to a great extent hope you enjoyed today's episode until next time it's me dr bynox zooming out [Music] ah what a beautiful day never mind [Music] hey kids you liked my videos didn't you before you go don't forget to click on the subscribe button and the bell so you won't miss out on my latest videos see you