History

=  __History of Acid Rain__    = Since the Industrial Revolution, the amount of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emission in our atmosphere have dramatically increased, thus increasing the probability of acid rain occurring.

In 1852, Robert Angus Smith was the first person to discover the relationship between acid rain and the pollution in the atmosphere. Although acidic rain was discovered in 1852, it wasn't until the late 1960s that scientists began widely observing and studying it.

Since the 1960's, the problem has escalated in many rural areas. This is due to the tall chimneys on factories in many urban areas, which allow the wind to transport pollutants over these rural areas.

The term "acid rain" was created in 1972.

In 1984 it was reported that almost half of the trees in the famous black forest in Germany had been damaged by acid rain.

As part of the United Nations-sponsored Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution Agreement, in 1988, the U.S.A. and 24 other nations agreed to some rules help limit nitrogen oxide emissions. In 1990 changes to the Clean Air Act included set rules to cut down the release of sulfur dioxide from power plants to 10 million tonnes by January 1, 2000.   The data monitored in the past years (2003—2007) showed that the pollution caused by acid rain tended to get worse year by year.