ACID RAIN NOUN (ENVIRONMENT)

Rain containing harmful acids which have formed in the atmosphere, usually when waste gases from industrial emissions combine with water. Etymology: Formed by compounding: rain with an acid content. History and Usage: The term acid rain was first used as long ago as 1859, when R. A. Smith observed in a chemical journal that the stonework of buildings crumbled away more quickly in towns where a great deal of coal was burnt for industrial purposes; this he attributed to the combination of waste gases with water in the air, making the rain acidic. In the early 1970s the term was revived as it became clear that acid rain was having a terrible effect on the forests and lakes of North America, Europe, and especially Scandinavia (killing trees and freshwater life). Acid rain started to be discussed frequently in official reports and documents on the environment; but it was not until environmental concerns became a public issue in the eighties that the term passed from technical writing of one kind and another into everyday use. With this familiarity came a better understanding of the causes of acid rain, including the contribution of exhaust fumes from private vehicles. By the end of the eighties, acid rain was a term which even schoolchildren could be expected to know and understand, and had been joined by variations on the same theme: acid cloud, a term designed to emphasize the fact that acidic gases could damage the environment even without any precipitation; acid fallout, the overall atmospheric effect of pollution; acid precipitation, the name sometimes used for snow or hail of high acidity. She has a list of favorite subjects, favorite serious subjects--nuclear proliferation, acid rain, unemployment, as well as racial bigotry and the situation of women. Alice Munro Progress of Love (1987), p. 190 Burning oil will contribute to the carbon dioxide umbrella and the acid rain deposited on Europe. Private Eye 1 Sept. 1989, p. 25