Air pollution also causes acid rain. Rainwater picks up particles and gases when it falls through the air. If the air is polluted, the rainwater becomes polluted too. Polluted rain is called acid rain.

Some acids are helpful. We have acid in our stomachs to break down and digest food. We use vinegar, an acid, to pickle cucumbers. Acids like these help us. But, acids can also be harmful. If there is too much acid in garden soil, plants will not grow. Some acids will burn your skin.

Acid rain is harmful rain. When it falls on living things–plants, animals and people–it can harm or kill them. Leaves burned by acid rain cannot make oxygen or collect carbon dioxide needed for photosynthesis.

Acid rain also eats away at limestone, the stone under our feet in South Florida. It is also the stone that naturally cleans the water that we drink.