Perhaps one of the easiest acid rain experiments for students to perform is determining whether snow or rain becomes more acidic. All that is needed for this experiment is some rain water, some snow and some litmus paper. While pure water has a pH value of 7, the more acidic a substance is, the lower its value. Test the pH value of both the snow and the rainwater. Test snow that has just fallen as well as snow that has been on the ground for a few days to see if fallen snow will pick up any more pollutants.
Obtain samples of concrete, brick and limestone; all often used as building materials. Immerse similar sizes of each in different concentrations of sulphuric acid. Measure the pH value of each solution. One solution should be only slightly acidic with a pH value of 6, another should have a pH value of 4 and another of 2, to represent rain that ranges from slightly acidic to very acidic. Place some materials in a container of distilled water as well for a control. Let the materials remain in their respective solutions for 10 days. Ask students to record any changes they see.
Grow flower or vegetable seeds in three separate containers until they each have two leaves visible. Good seed choices are beans, peas, zinnias and marigolds, all of which are easy to grow. Be sure to use the same type of seed for all three containers. Label one container normal; label another slightly acid and the final one very acidic. Water the normal plant or plants only with distilled water. Mix two different solutions using lemon juice. One solution should have a pH value of 5.5 and the other a pH value of 3. Use the 5.5 solution to water the plant in the slightly acidic container and the 3 solution to water the plant in the very acidic container. Measure each plant every other day for a period of three weeks and record the results.
For this experiment use small animal species such as daphnia, which are small crustaceans, or shrimp such as those grown to feed tropical fish. Divide the animals into several containers. Add distilled water only to one container; add lemon water solutions with different pH values to the other containers. Record the changes in each population over a predetermined period of time.