The diagram shows sulfur dioxide from a factory chimney reacting with oxygen and water in the clouds before falling as acid rain. Which acid is mainly respo...
Question 1 Report
The diagram shows sulfur dioxide from a factory chimney reacting with oxygen and water in the clouds before falling as acid rain. Which acid is mainly responsible for this acid rain?
Answer Details
Sulfur dioxide from the chimney dissolves in cloud droplets and is oxidised by oxygen in the air, producing sulfuric acid, H2SO4, which then falls as acid rain. The overall change can be written 2SO2 + O2 + 2H2O → 2H2SO4.
Nitric acid is also found in acid rain, but it comes from oxides of nitrogen made in hot engines and by lightning, not from the sulfur dioxide traced in this diagram. Carbonic acid forms when ordinary carbon dioxide dissolves in rain, which is why even unpolluted rain is slightly acidic at about pH 5.6; it is far too weak to be the main cause. Hydrochloric acid would need chlorine, which is not supplied here.
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