Invisible Menace
The lowered pH of rain due to factory and power plant emissions of sulfur and nitrogen compounds has had a devastating effect on this coniferous forest engulfed in fog in the Appalachian Mountains. Scientists studying how the molecules involved in acid rain interact in the atmosphere have uncovered a key clue to the puzzle: Nitric acid reacts in the atmosphere with an extremely reactive molecule, the hydroxyl radical, to form nitrogen oxides, which react further to make the pollutant ozone.