Question

5. If the sulfuric acid and nitric acid in rainwater are capable of adversely affecting soil, trees, and fish, why doesn’t this same acid adversely affect people when they walk in the rain? 6. Which do you feel is likely to be more acidic: acid rain or acid fog? Explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

5) the precipitation of acid rain does not affect the human directly as it is too dilute to cause any effect. However with due course of time the acid gets deposited (dry and wet) over the leaves of trees, the soild on which it grows or get accumulated in lakes in which fish live. Now we the time it results in overall decrease of nutrient availablity for plants from soil, the photosynthesis effeciency due to which the trees or plants die gradually.

Similary in case of aquatic life, acid enters the trophic level and accumulated in different aquatic animals and plants resulting in their damage or death.

Basically accumulation of acid causes damage. Direct contact with rain containing acid does not cause much damage apart from allergies.

6) The fog contains more concentrated acid as compared to rain so fog is more acidic, and fog will remain for longer time in environment as compared to rain so it will affect more.