The diagrams illustrate how pollutants produced by modern human activities are transformed into acid rain and how this process eventually contaminates the environment and the food chain.
Overall, emissions from four main sources – housing, transport, factories, and power stations – are released into the atmosphere, where they form polluted clouds. These clouds are carried over long distances before producing acid rain, which contaminates natural ecosystems and ultimately enters the food chain.
At the first stage, pollutants generated by homes, vehicles, factories, and power stations are emitted into the air. These emissions contain harmful substances such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and other chemical compounds. As these gases rise, they accumulate in clouds, creating polluted clouds in the atmosphere.
The next stage occurs when these contaminated clouds are transported across countries and even continents by wind. As a result, acid rain falls over a wide geographical area rather than remaining close to the original source of pollution.
Finally, the acid rain reaches hills, fields, rivers, lakes, trees, and other vegetation. This causes pollutants to spread into soil and water systems, damaging plants and aquatic environments. In the last stage, these harmful substances enter the food chain, meaning that both animals and humans may eventually be affected by pollution that originated from industrial and urban activities many miles away.