Lesson 6 Activity 1

STUDENT WORKSHEET
1: What is acid rain? Acid rain is precipitation that has collected sulfur
and rains out the acid.
2: What is the difference in the PH in acidic water and rain water.
Acidic water is water that that has a lower PH number than what is
typically found, such as a 5.2 Ph, which is relatively bad.
3: Describe the major cause of acid rain. The major cause is air
pollution, from factories, and volcanoes, both that release sulfur.
4: Why is acid rain of particular interest? Because it damages many
buildings and can pollute our water and kill us all.
5: What are the main chemicals in air pollution that cause acid rain?
Sulfur and Nitrogen oxides.
6: How long do the chemical reactions take place that change air
pollution to acid rain? They can take from several hours to several
days.
7: What did the U.S government do at first to reduce pollution from
smokestacks? They first attempted to help the environment by
building higher smokestacks.
8: How successful was this government action? No, because higher
smokestacks only increased the time that the pollutants were in the
air.
9: What region of the continental United States is affected by acid rain
the most? The northeast is affected by acid rain the most.
10: Which reason is least affected? West of the Mississippi.