altitudes, ozone absorbs ultra violent radiation, at low altitude damages lung tissue, aggravates respiratory disease, and makes people more susceptible to respiratory infection. In high concentrations, like on hot summer days, it inhabits plant growth and causes wide spread damage to crops and forests. The Clean Air Act of 1970 is on piece of legislation that has been developed to regulate ozone. It gives primary responsibility to state and local governments for regulating pollution from power plants, factories and other stationary sources. The EPA has primary responsibility for regulating mobile sources such as cars and other types of mobile polluters. (EPA) The last section, Acid Rain, is one that I had responsibility of researching. Acid rain refers to acidic deposits from the atmosphere by both wet and dry depositions. A wet deposition refers to acidic rain, snow, mist, dew, or any form of precipitation. Dry deposition refers to acidic gases and particles, and about half of all depositions in the atmosphere fall back to the earth as acid rain. The main cause of acid rain is the burning of fossil fuels, which release sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which are the two primary causes of acid rain. (WHRC) These two gases react in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and oxidants to form various acidic compounds such as sulfuric acid and nitric acid. Sunlight increases the rate of most of these reactions. Acidity of water is measured by the pH scale, this scale ranges from 0-14 with 7 being neutral. The lower the pH the more acidic the solution. Normal rain is slightly acidic due to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and has a pH of about 5.6. In the United States in the year 2000, most acidic rain that fell had a pH of about 4.3. (MSC) Acid rain causes acidification of lakes and streams and contributes to the damage of trees and many sensitive forest soils. It also accelerates the decay of building materials, statues, pa...
