Dahea Sun, Rain Palette

Background

In March 2011, an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan which triggered a nuclear power plant. This sparked fear of acid rain in the people of South Korea.

Acid rain has low pH and is harmful to plants, aquatic animals, the food we eat and even infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by sulphur and nitrogen compounds from human sources like exhaust from cars, electricity generation, and factories. This affects the purity of air and eventually precipitation. Sun questioned if rain can indicate the quality of air by location and time.

Acid rain affects most of southwestern China and Taiwan, as well as most of eastern Europe, eastern third of US and southeastern Canada.

1908-1968

This graph illustrates the pH level at which each animal may be lost to the acidic environment.

 

How?

Sun discovered that acidity of rain can be measured using anthocyanins, which change colour to red, purple or blue in accordance with the water’s acidity.

She found out that some plants are natural pH indicators as they are rich in anthocyanins. She brewed up natural dye baths to produce textiles which are hypersensitive to acidity in rain and would turn soft hues.

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