Stone leprosy

Every year acid rain causes hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage to stone buildings and statues throughout the world. The term stone leprosy is used by some environmental chemists to describe the corrosion of stone by acid rain (Figure 21.20). Acid rain is also toxic to vegetation and aquatic life. Many well-documented cases show dramatically how acid rain has destroyed agricultural and forest lands and killed aquatic organisms. 

The resulting damage to buildings and statues, shown in Figure 13.9, is sometimes referred to as stone leprosy. 

Stone leprosy at Herten Castle near Recklinghausen, Westphalia, Germany. The... 

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