what is acid rain, what makes it and what damage does it cause?

Actually, normal rain waters is already acidic so natural rain is acid rain. However, most people who are concern about acid rain is when the rain falls the a acidic levels are much higher than normal. This is what most people would refer to as acid rain.

Acid rain is most commonly formed by factories and industrial plants that produces a waste byproduct that is acidic after it is burned. The smoke from the burning done in factories will be carry into the atmosphere. These tiny acidic particles into the atmosphere are very light and will stay up in the atmosphere until a rain storm comes in and washes these particles back down to ground surface. This is above normal amounts of acid in the rain water or the acid rain we are concerned about.

Acid rain does harm in two main ways. It breaks down the chemical bonds (or natures glue) that hold many things that we consider to be tough, strong, and solid like rocks, boulders, and marble. That is the reason why a lot of old Roman buildings in Europe that has survived centuries are now rapidly falling apart. In time, it can be very damaging to modern buildings and structures around the world.

What may be worse is that when acid rain falls back to earth. Plants and animals will "drink" this acid rain or the water will naturally collect in lakes and streams where human get their water supply and where farmers get their water for the crops they sell and to the food they grow to fed the cows,chickens, and other farm animals that human eats. Human can usually have a little extra acid in their food and their will not be a problem. Acid is in our stomachs, and in there they will help break down the food that we eat. But if we take in too much acid, it will like cause health problem and make us sick. The same can be said about the other animals and plants on earth.

As the old saying goes, too much of anything is rarely good.

This is a picture that explains how acid rain is made:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thum...

Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH).

Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids.

It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure through the process of wet deposition.

Acid rain is caused when chemicals in factories turn into smoke then go into the clouds while its raining. Usually in movies it changes people into zombies. Haha! JK JK. But in real life it damages peoples skins or sometimes melts holes in metal or different things