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The acid rain station for Chautauqua County is located in Mayville. Each controller on the station runs for a twenty four hour period. During this period a vacuum is created by a blower and particles in the air are pulled into the filter paper. A white filter paper tends to be a shade of gray after the 24 hour process and often a darker shade when there was rain during that period. Filters are changed twice a week on the rain station and those filter papers are sent into the New York State Health Department in Albany for analysis. Approximately once a month the acid rain controllers are calibrated in order to keep accurate flow rates to each filter and to ensure equipment operates efficiently.
Typical rainwater has a pH of about 5 to 6. This means that it is naturally a neutral, slightly acidic liquid. During precipitation rainwater dissolves gasses such as carbon dioxide and oxygen. The industry now emits great amounts of acidifying gasses, such as sulphuric oxides and carbon monoxide. These gasses also dissolve in rainwater. This causes a change in pH of the precipitation - the pH of rain will fall to a value of or below 4. When a substance has a pH of below 6.5, it is acid. The lower the pH, the more acid the substance is. That is why rain with a lower pH, due to dissolved industrial emissions, is called acid rain.
Sulfur Dioxide(SO2) and nitrogen oxide(NOX) emissions from power plants form acids in the atmosphere that fall to earth as rain, fog, snow or dry particles. This acid precipitation (known as "acid rain") is often carried hundreds of miles by the wind. Acid rain damages forests and causes lakes and streams to become acidic, killing the fish. Acid rain also damages buildings, historical monuments and even cars.
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