If you want a short and simple answer, its due to the pollution in the sky, and no you won't die, unless you drink a LOT of it over a long period of time
2007-02-02 03:52:35
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answer #1
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answered by Fantasy686 4
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Acid rain is a result of air pollution. When any type of fuel is burnt, lots of different chemicals are produced. The smoke that comes from a fire or the fumes that come out of a car exhaust don't just contain the sooty grey particles that you can see - they also contains lots of invisible gases that can be even more harmful to our environment. Power stations, factories and cars all burn fuels and therefore they all produce polluting gases. Some of these gases (especially nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide) react with the tiny droplets of water in clouds to form sulphuric and nitric acids. The rain from these clouds then falls as very weak acid - which is why it is known as "acid rain". Acidity is measured using a scale called the pH scale. This scale goes from 0 to 14. 0 is the most acidic and 14 is the most alkaline (opposite of acidic). Something with a pH value of 7, we call neutral, this means that it is neither acidic nor alkaline. Very strong acids will burn if they touch your skin and can even destroy metals. Acid rain is much, much weaker than this, never acidic enough to burn your skin. Rain is always slightly acidic because it mixes with naturally occurring oxides in the air. Unpolluted rain would have a pH value of between 5 and 6. When the air becomes more polluted with nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide the acidity can increase to a pH value of 4. Some rain has even been recorded as being pH2. Vinegar has a pH value of 2.2 and lemon juice has a value of pH2.3. Even the strongest recorded acid rain is only about as acidic as lemon juice or vinegar and we know that these don't harm us - so why do we worry about acid rain? Acid rain can be carried great distances in the atmosphere, not just between countries but also from continent to continent. The acid can also take the form of snow, mists and dry dusts. The rain sometimes falls many miles from the source of pollution but wherever it falls it can have a serious effect on soil, trees, buildings and water. Forests all over the world are dying, fish are dying. In Scandinavia there are dead lakes, which are crystal clear and contain no living creatures or plant life. Many of Britain's freshwater fish are threatened, there have been reports of deformed fish being hatched. This leads to fish-eating birds and animals being affected also. Is acid rain responsible for all this? Scientists have been doing a lot of research into how acid rain affects the environment.
2016-03-29 01:24:37
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answer #2
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answered by Anonymous
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Acid rain can be made several ways. Smog from cars and industrail exhaust but believed it or not earth can make the greatest volume of it.
Volcanoes – ash and toxic gases are the worst! A powerful eruption which can contain Sulfuric acid, vaporized rock and minerals, carbon dioxide can easily eclipse all the SUV’s running 24 hours a day 7 days a week for decades. These high levels have historically produced acid rain that has killed almost all life it touched. Trees, plants, fish in streams, and over long term exposure even livestock and humans. Now such events are rare in our life time but over the span of Earths life cycle rather common.
Man made Acid rain in comparision in modern times with better pollution controls is much less deadly. Still dangerous in cities, mountain ridges and urban areas. It too is made up of smaller levels of sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide. L.A. California area has some of the worst acid rain in the summer. All the emisions from cars, pollutents from factories and cows ( yes I said cows) stay put in the valley. When it rain this junk falls out. Now if it is just a short shower it is very toxic. The longer ones will wash it out to ocean.
Basicly to answer your question - yes you can get sick die if you get the correct concentration of acid rain. Now it is assuming you drank a stream or captured it from a shower in a city area. Lucky for USA we have the best water treatment processes in the world.
2007-02-02 04:05:49
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answer #3
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answered by Iron F 1
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No you won't die if you drink it. It's a very low acidic amount of acid that may effect things like concrete over many many years but it won't hurt you. The acid comes from the smoke that factories are putting out and it's usually confined to the general area where those factories are like cities. I love the country so much better.
2007-02-02 03:07:00
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answer #4
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answered by Kevin A 6
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I presume you're talking about acid rain. Acid rain occurs when sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen are emitted into the atmosphere and they dissolve with water droplets.
You won't die if you drink it, but acid rain has other adverse effects on the environment.
2007-02-02 01:49:58
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answer #5
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answered by rfedrocks 3
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No you won't die. A can of soda is much more acidic than rain water. Various gasses including CO2 dissolve in the rain and cause it to be acidic
2007-02-02 01:45:57
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answer #6
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answered by Gene 7
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"Acid rain" is a broad term referring to a mixture of wet and dry deposition (deposited material) from the atmosphere containing higher than normal amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids. The precursors, or chemical forerunners, of acid rain formation result from both natural sources, such as volcanoes and decaying vegetation, and man-made sources, primarily emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) resulting from fossil fuel combustion. In the United States, roughly 2/3 of all SO2 and 1/4 of all NOx come from electric power generation that relies on burning fossil fuels, like coal. Acid rain occurs when these gases react in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form various acidic compounds. The result is a mild solution of sulfuric acid and nitric acid. When sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released from power plants and other sources, prevailing winds blow these compounds across state and national borders, sometimes over hundreds of miles.
Wet deposition refers to acidic rain, fog, and snow. If the acid chemicals in the air are blown into areas where the weather is wet, the acids can fall to the ground in the form of rain, snow, fog, or mist. As this acidic water flows over and through the ground, it affects a variety of plants and animals. The strength of the effects depends on several factors, including how acidic the water is; the chemistry and buffering capacity of the soils involved; and the types of fish, trees, and other living things that rely on the water.
The concentration of these noxious chemicals in the water isn't enough to kill you - the adverse effects on the environment took decades to reveal themselves - but it would taste pretty bad, and if concentrated enough might make you sick to your stomach.
2007-02-02 01:50:23
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answer #7
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answered by Arsan Lupin 7
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It picks it up on the way down from industrial pollution. You wont die but long exposure of the same can have some consequences
2007-02-02 01:52:52
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answer #8
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answered by redacatfish 2
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You have received answers for the safety of the water
So, here is WHY -- it is mostly the result of emissions from burning coal (such as in coal-burning power plants and the like)
2007-02-02 01:53:40
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answer #9
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answered by Anonymous
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