Acid Rain: The Causes And Effects Of Acid Rain

Rain occurs nature as part of the water cycle, but sometimes rain can do more harm than good. Acid rain can causes damage to plants, animals, and even structures. Acid rain occurs naturally without human interference, but since humans started to make objects that contribute to the creation of acid rain, it happens more frequently than if humans would not be involved. People not only raised the amount of acid rain that falls, they can also be the ones to bring the amount back down to reasonable levels.
In order to help, people must first understand what acid rain is. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) help get information out to the public about events that causes damage to the environment, they do through their website, epa.gov. Acid

When a motor vehicle runs, it produces nitrogen oxide which then mixes with the sulfur dioxide from power plants and other places. Together the two gasses then interact with molecules in the atmosphere. This interaction makes the molecules acidic and from there either falls as a form of wet deposition or dry deposition. Every day when people get into their form of motorized transportation they all contribute to the creation of acid deposition. In another article written by the EPA they tell of the causes of acid rain. Before humans started pumping these gasses into the air the environment could handle the naturally acidic precipitation, but now the precipitation has become too acidic for nature to be able to counteract the acidity: “ Over time, these neutralizing materials can be washed away by acid rain. Damage to crops, trees, lakes, rivers, and animals can result.”(What Causes Acid Rain? 1) Acid rain can cause damage to many different objects, living, or nonliving acid rain can still

When there is a lage amount of acid rain that falls in an area over a period of time, it can hurt the environment for all of the creatures living there. Acid rain can make a lake acidic which will most likely kill off a majority of the animals living in that lake.(McCormick 16) This happens all over the world. Michael Hopkin a reporter, and the author of “Acid rain still hurting Canada” states that, “Lakes and waterways in North America are struggling to recover from the effects of acid rain, despite reduced emissions of the pollutants that cause it. Without further cuts, it could be millennia before the worst-affected sites recover, say environmentalists.” It can also kill the animals that depend on the lake for food. When a food source that animals in an area dependon to survive gets diminished or even eliminated altogether. The animals that depended on it will either die off which will cause an even bigger problem for that area 's ecosystem, or they will need to find a new food source.If the new food that the animal found is already a food source for another animal then that causes competition for food, this may reduce the numbers of one or maybe even both animals. This all can come about because of acid rain and what it can do to the environment. On the EPA student site they have an article that shows how acid rain can affect an ecosystem 's food web. “This process continues up the entire food web. So,