If There's Acid Rain, Is There Basic Rain?
You've probably heard of acid rain: rain that's more acidic than normal because of pollution in the atmosphere. But, if rain can become more acidic, shouldn't it ...
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♪ Pretty much everyone’s heard of acid rain: rain that’s more acidic than normal because it mixed with pollutants in the atmosphere. Acid rain can corrode buildings, weaken nutrients in soil, and harm plants and animals — so it’s not very nice stuff. But acids are only one side of the pH spectrum. So what about basic rain? Why don’t we hear more about that? Well, because even if it can happen, it’s probably not worth losing sleep over. While scientists do describe acidity in a few different ways, depending on what they’re doing, one of the most common is using pH. And one way of understanding pH is to focus on the concentration of hydrogen ions in a substance. As pH drops, the substance is more acidic, and essentially there’s more hydrogen ions available for bon...
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♪ Pretty much everyone’s heard of acid rain: rain that’s more acidic than normal because it mixed with pollutants in the atmosphere. Acid rain can corrode buildings, weaken nutrients in soil, and harm plants and animals — so it’s not very nice stuff. But acids are only one side of the pH spectrum. So what about basic rain? Why don’t we hear more about that? Well, because even if it can happen, it’s probably not worth losing sleep over. While scientists do describe acidity in a few different ways, depending on what they’re doing, one of the most common is using pH. And one way of understanding pH is to focus on the concentration of hydrogen ions in a substance. As pH drops, the substance is more acidic, and essentially there’s more hydrogen ions available for bon...
