Acid Rain Science Projects

The first acid rain reportedly occurred in Manchester, England during the Industrial Revolution. The term acid rain was first coined by Robert Angus Smith in 1972. He was the first one to establish relation between this kind of rain and air pollution. Gases like sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide are released in the air due to the combustion of fossil fuels. These gases combine with the rainwater to produce acidic rain. The normal rain has a pH of 5 while acidic rain has a pH less than 5; the lesser the pH the more acidic is the water. This rain is very harmful not only to humans but also to the flora and fauna. This problem is very common in the industrialized countries. For your project, you can take one of the following topics.

Effect of Acid Rain on Plants
The material needed is distilled water, two pots of any small plant (just one branch and some leaves will do). Both the plants should be of same size and the same type of soil should be used in both the pots. For preparing rain with an acidic pH, put some vinegar in a bottle and let it stay for 3 days. Then add some water to it.

In order to distinguish between the pots, mark one pot as A and other as B. Place both the pots in sunlight. Water pot A with distilled water and pot B with acid water; continue to do this for three days. Keep a close watch on the plants. On 3rd day, plant in pot B will start decaying while the one in pot A will grow normally. This shows that acid rain hampers the natural growth of plants. If you continue the same experiment for some days, slowly the plant in pot B will die.

Effect of Acidic pH on Plants
Take two small wheat plants (probably of same height), distilled water and sulfuric acid 4.5 and 5.5. Name one plant as A, while the other B. Place both the plants in sunlight and water them daily. Add 125 ml of sulfuric acid 4.5 to plant A and sulfuric acid 5.5 to plant to plant B twice in a day. After 4-5 days you will realize plant A is dead while plant B is still decaying. This happens because sulfuric acid 4.5 is more acidic than sulfuric acid 5.5. The lesser the pH, the more harmful is the acid.

Effects of Acid Rain on Metals
You will need two small non-metallic glasses, distilled water, acid water, two small copper pennies (minted before 1983) and plastic wrap to perform this experiment. Name one glass A while the other B. Place one copper penny in each glass. Fill glass A with distilled water while B with acid water. Cover the glasses with a plastic wrap to prevent the evaporation of water. Observe them for five days. After the 5th day, you will realize the water in glass B has become green. This happens because of the reaction of acidic water with copper. If you observe the copper penny in glass B you will see that there is no change. This is because the reaction is very slow. Thus you can say that rains with low pH (acidic) causes rusting of metals.

During the project's exhibition mention about the formation of acid rain, its effects and preventive measures. Such a project is a good way of showing your concern for the environment.