Acid Rain Lab Results

Introduction: The purpose of this lab was to test which building material would withstand acid rain the best. The town council wants to see which material would be the best material for statues for a new zoo that will be built in town. Testing these materials will show which one will break down more when it is affected by acid rain which is shown with vinegar. If the pH level of the vinegar changes, then the material is breaking down. The chemical process that is occuring is the neutralization reaction which is H+(aq)+OH−(aq)⇋H2O(l). The acid and the base mix to make a pH that is more neutral (a pH of 7 is neutral). Therefore, this changes the pH of the original matter. Acid Rain is rainfall made sufficiently acidic by atmospheric pollution that it causes environmental harm, typically to forests and lakes. The main cause is the industrial burning of coal and other fossil fuels, the

The hypothesis of this lab was If there is three building materials (limestone, red sandstone, and granite) are soaked in vinegar for ten minutes, then granite will be the best material to use for the statue because it it the strongest of the materials. This hypothesis was proven true because even though granite nd red sandstone had the same change in pH level. It was observed that the red sandstone was changing the vinegar a tint of red, showing that the red sandstone was being broken down by the vinegar. The measurements of the control validate this experiment because if there was no control then there would be nothing to compare the data to in the end. Without the control data the data collected would be useless. The Substance that was the most affected by the vinegar was the limestone, this material had the greatest change in pH level of 2 levels, meaning more base was mixed with an acid so it was making the pH more neutral, so this substance was being broken down the