acid rain

(noun)

acidic precipitation, the result of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides reacting with water in the atmosphere

Examples of acid rain in the following topics:

  • Air Pollution

    • Acid rain: acidic precipitation that occurs when the pollutants sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide react with water in the atmosphere.

  • Volcanoes

    • Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen fluoride are all components of acid rain.
    • Sulfur dioxide is converted into aerosolized sulfuric acid, which reflects solar radiation and leads to atmospheric cooling, agricultural decline, and occasionally famine.

  • Polyprotic Acid Titrations

    • Polyprotic acids, also known as polybasic acids, are able to donate more than one proton per acid molecule.
    • Common examples of monoprotic acids in mineral acids include hydrochloric acid (HCl) and nitric acid (HNO3).
    • On the other hand, for organic acids the term mainly indicates the presence of one carboxylic acid group, and sometimes these acids are known as monocarboxylic acid.
    • Polyprotic acid are able to donate more than one proton per acid molecule, in contrast to monoprotic acids that only donate one proton per molecule.
    • An example of a triprotic acid is orthophosphoric acid (H3PO4), usually just called phosphoric acid.

  • Diprotic and Polyprotic Acids

    • Diprotic and polyprotic acids contain multiple acidic protons that dissociate in distinct, sequential steps.
    • As their name suggests, polyprotic acids contain more than one acidic proton.
    • Two common examples are carbonic acid (H2CO3, which has two acidic protons and is therefore a diprotic acid) and phosphoric acid (H3PO4, which has three acidic protons and is therefore a triprotic acid).
    • With any polyprotic acid, the first amd most strongly acidic proton dissociates completely before the second-most acidic proton even begins to dissociate.
    • Identify the key features that distinguish polyprotic acids from monoprotic acids.

  • Acid Dissociation Constant (Ka)

    • The acid dissociation constant (Ka) is the measure of the strength of an acid in solution.
    • The acid dissociation constant (Ka) is a quantitative measure of the strength of an acid in solution.
    • Acid dissociation constants are most often associated with weak acids, or acids that do not completely dissociate in solution.
    • Acids with a pKa value of less than about -2 are said to be strong acids.
    • Acetic acid is a weak acid with an acid dissociation constant $K_a=1.8\times 10^{-5}$ .

  • Strong Acids

    • The strength of an acid refers to the ease with which the acid loses a proton.
    • where HA is a protonated acid, H+ is the free acidic proton, and A- is the conjugate base.
    • Strong acids yield weak conjugate bases.
    • For sulfuric acid, which is diprotic, the "strong acid" designation refers only to the dissociation of the first proton:
    • p-Toluenesulfonic acid is an example of an organic soluble strong acid, with a pKa of -2.8.

  • Silver

    • Silver metal dissolves readily in nitric acid (HNO3) to produce silver nitrate (AgNO3), a transparent crystalline solid that is photosensitive and readily soluble in water.
    • Silver iodide has been used in attempts to seed clouds to produce rain.
    • Silver fulminate (AgONC), a powerful, touch-sensitive explosive used in percussion caps, is made by reaction of silver metal with nitric acid in the presence of ethanol (C2H5OH).

  • Weak Acids

    • The majority of acids are weak.
    • Examples of weak acids include acetic acid (CH3COOH), which is found in vinegar, and oxalic acid (H2C2O4), which is found in some vegetables.
    • Acids with a Ka less than 1.8×10−16 are weaker acids than water.
    • The Ka of acetic acid is $1.8\times 10^{-5}$.
    • Although it is only a weak acid, a concentrated enough solution of acetic acid can still be quite acidic.

  • The Brønsted-Lowry Definition of Acids and Bases

    • Originally, acids and bases were defined by Svante Arrhenius.
    • A wide range of compounds can be classified in the Brønsted-Lowry framework: mineral acids and derivatives such as sulfonates, carboxylic acids, amines, carbon acids, and many more.
    • The conjugate acid is the species that is formed when the Brønsted base accepts a proton from the Brønsted acid.
    • Here, acetic acid acts as a Brønsted-Lowry acid, donating a proton to water, which acts as the Brønsted-Lowry base.
    • Chemistry 12.1 What are Acids and Bases?

  • Oxoacids

    • Halogen oxoacids include hypochlorous acid (HOCl); chlorous acid(HOClO); chloric acid(HOClO2); oerchloric acid(HOClO3); oerbromic acid (HOBrO3)
    • Consider the simple oxyacids HOI (hypoiodous acid), HOBr (hypobromous acid), and HOCl (hypochlorous acid).
    • The strongest acid is perchloric acid on the left, and the weakest is hypochlorous acid on the far right.
    • Carboxylic acids are the most common type of organic acid.
    • Mellitic acid is an example of a hexacarboxylic acid.