Acid Rain and Building Stone Durability
Medium
What happens when you soak building materials in vinegar for four days? Vinegar mimics the effects of acid rain on stone and brick.
You place 100-gram samples of four materials into beakers of vinegar:
- marble
- limestone
- brick
- granite
Each day, you remove and weigh the samples. By day four, limestone loses almost 90% of its weight. Granite stays nearly the same.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that limestone suffers the most damage from acid rain.
Method & Materials
You will clean and weigh the building materials, measure out vinegar, and place the materials in the vinegar. You will then check the weight of the materials every day for four days.
You will need 100 grams of marble, limestone, brick, and granite, a digital weighing scale, four beakers, 1600ml of vinegar, a measuring cylinder, a piece of cloth, sand paper, a hammer, and a chisel.
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See what’s includedResults
The results showed that limestone, followed by marble, lost the most weight. The brick lost a moderate amount of weight and the granite dissolved the least. This proves that the hypothesis is true - limestone suffers the most damage from acid rain.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it shows how acid rain can cause serious damage to buildings and sculptures. It also shows how modern buildings are not immune to the effects of acid rain.
Also Consider
To further the experiment, you could test the materials in sunlight and in a dark room. You could also modify the experiment by using other construction materials like cement, steel, and copper.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.Related videos
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