student handout
Name(s)_____________________________________________
Effects of Acid Rain Record Sheet
1. Predict what will happen in tap water:
2. Predict what will happen in vinegar:
3. Draw your carved chalk before the procedure:
4. Describe what happens when you dip the chalk in water.
5. Describe what happens when you dip the chalk in vinegar.
6. Draw your chalk after the procedure. Label one end water and the other vinegar.
7. How did this activity simulate the negative effects of acid rain?
8. How does acid rain affect buildings, statues, etc., that contain calcium carbonate?
9. What can we do to help cut back on the acidity of rain in our area?
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answer key
Effects of Acid Rain Answer Sheet
1. Predict what will happen in tap water:
Any reasonable answer.
2. Predict what will happen in vinegar:
Any reasonable answer.
3. Draw your carved chalk before the procedure:
4. Describe what happens when you dip the chalk in water.
Not much – it may bubble slightly as gas is replaced by water in the pores of the material.
5. Describe what happens when you dip the chalk in vinegar.
It bubbles or fizzes. A light-beige sludge forms in the cup and the design on the chalk becomes less visible or is gone.
6. Draw your chalk after the procedure. Label one end “water” and the other “vinegar.”
7. How did activity simulate the negative effects of acid rain?
(The pH of vinegar is similar to that of some acid rain. Chalk contains the same material that many statues, buildings, etc., are
made of.)
8. How does acid rain affect buildings, statues, etc., that contain calcium carbonate? (Calcium carbonate reacts with acid rain, so acid rain breaks down the statues’ and buildings’ surfaces.)
9. What can we do to help cut back on the acidity of rain in our area?
(Less pollution, especially burning fossil fuels, cut back on use of electricity, find alternative forms to generate electricity, use clean
coal, scrubber technology. etc. Answers will depend on student level of knowledge and class activities leading up to this.)
Earth Motion3: Our Changing Earth
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