Does acid rain somehow directly harm human beings?
Hiking in the rain often left me with thoughts about acid rain. I wonder if I'm able to recognize it and if yes, how strong the recognizable symptoms are.
Are there any direct (forest dieback etc. is indirect) harms for humans and animals (like burning skin etc.)? If yes, how should I react when "stuck" in acid rain?
1 answer
Acid rain usually has a pH of around 4-5, while normal rain is around 5.6, and pure water is 7, or neutral [1] [2]. To give that in perspective, acid rain is less acidic than orange juice or soda, while normal rain is closer to bananas [3].
You shouldn't be in danger from the acid rain itself any more so than normal rain. However, you are more in danger from the pollutants which cause acid rain, such as sulfur dioxide and the various nitrogen oxides [4].
Acid rain has more of an effect on wildlife, where it can interfere with the hatching of fish eggs (most of which cant hatch below a pH of 5), as well as leaching aluminum from the soil into lakes and streams. Additionally, it can remove nutrients from the soil, as well as damage stone and metal sculptures [4].
In conclusion, you should not be directly effected by acid rain, though the pollutants which cause it can harm you, and it will harm the environment in a bunch of different ways.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/13546. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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