Acid Rain

Hello. I am a special kind of rain. Most raindrops like to splish and splash. They help the flowers grow big and bright. But sometimes, I feel a little grumpy. When I fall on a big stone statue, I can make it look like it has sandy tears on its cheeks. When I land on the green leaves of a tree, I can make them feel a bit sad and droopy. I am not trying to be mean. It is just that something has mixed in with my water and makes me feel different.

Do you want to know why I get so grumpy? It is because of the puffy gray smoke that comes from cars and big factory smokestacks. Vroom vroom. Puff puff. That smoke floats way up high into the sky. It mixes with the soft, white clouds where I live. The smoke gives my water a sour tummy ache. A very, very long time ago, around the year 1852, a smart man named Robert Angus Smith looked at me very closely. He saw that I was different in the big cities where there was lots of smoke. He knew I was not just plain water anymore. He gave me my name. He called me Acid Rain. It sounds a little sour, just like how my tummy sometimes feels.

My grumpy drops can make the little fish in lakes and rivers feel unwell. It can make their homes feel not so cozy. But guess what? People are amazing helpers. They learned that if they clean up the smoke, I can stop being a grumpy raindrop. Now, people are making cars that puff less smoke. They are finding cleaner ways to make power for their homes. Every time we work together to keep the air clean, you help me become a happy, healthy raindrop again. Then I can give the whole world a fresh, clean drink.