Both nitrogen and sulphur have beneficial and also bad effects on human civilization. Everyday harmful gas like hydrogen sulphide, sulphur-di-oxide & sulphur-tri-oxide exerted from different industries mix up with air to pollute our environment. Besides, to increase the production of food, urea is used in earth. Excess urea decomposes forming nitrogen oxides which mix with air causing pollution. These oxides of nitrogen & sulphur mix up with rain water, forming acids. This acid when fall on earth is called acid rain.
Acids formed by sulphur :
SO2 + H2O → H2SO3
SO3 + H2O → H2SO4
Acids formed by nitrogen :
N2 + O2 → NO
NO + O2 → NO2
NO2 + H2O + O2 → HNO3
Effects on earth :
This acid rain pours on trees & living areas. Sometimes the pH of water can be decreased to 3 as a result of this rain. This causes the death of fishes. The pH of soil can go beyond 7 as a result of this acid rain, which demolish the fertility of soil & destroy forests. Acid rain causes decay of buildings, metal bodies etc.
