What is contamination?

We explain what pollution is and what types of pollution exist. Also, what effects does it have on the planet.

1. What is contamination?

Pollution is the introduction of a pollutant , which can be liquid , solid or gaseous , and that due to its chemical characteristics, when it enters a natural environment, causes instability and damages the functioning of the ecosystem . In this way it is affected by carrying risks for living beings that reside in it.

The types of pollutants , as we saw, may vary, and at the same time depend on energy, sound, heat or light . Generally, pollution is a product of the activity of man and his technique involved in nature .

There is a classification that serves to understand the prolongation of the effects of pollutants, this distinguishes pollutants:

• Not degradable. They are those that do not degrade over time . Generally, its degree of contamination is constant and generally a great damage to the environment .
• Slow degradation  They produce a high degree of concentrated contamination over an extended period of consecutive years, after which it decays.
• Biodegradable  They are those that are capable of being decomposed naturally by natural conditions and this is produced by the action of plant or animal biological agents.

2. Types of pollutants according to their origin

And according to the source or origin of the contaminating substance to the contamination classifies it into:

• Air pollution . It is about the contamination that certainnatural processes entail, such as volcanic eruptions, or the use of non-renewable resources such as oil . These cause latent danger to the living beings that inhabit the Earth.
• Water pollution .  They are due to the presence of pollutants that affect rivers, seas and lakes. They cannot absorb them nor can the process of contamination be reversed to recycle their balance. Generally it is the activity of the human being , his irresponsibility with respect to the environment, that through spills of great toxicity, fertilizers, wastes, garbage and fossil fuels the one that produces this type of contamination. However, the origin can also be produced by natural processes such as the decomposition of organic and mineral materials.
• Soil pollution . It is the presence of contaminating chemicals that directly affect the earth’s crust, and these produce the effect of preventing the development of natural balance. At present, the exploitation of the earth’s natural resources is causing natural conditions to be altered in such a way that the constitution of the elements of the ecosystems changes. For example, adding water to the exploitation of vast areas of cultivation causes the alteration of fauna and flora . Or the mining that ends up producing desertification of the areas, these then turn out to be unproductive or uninhabitable.
• Noise pollution .  This refers to the presence of sound frequency levels that alter the conditions in which living beings develop in a natural area, generally produced by humans due to the intrusion of vehicles, installation of large industries, trains and mass transport. In other cases this is an effect produced intentionally by the human, as a fishing technique for example.
• Radioactive contamination.  It is about pollution caused by accidents or nuclear or mining activities. It is the presence of elements that can affect both the soil , the air or contaminating the adjacent water courses. While they are generally side effects, they are irreversible.
• Thermal pollution  It is the influence generated by residual substances that lead to the increase in the temperature of a natural area. This problem is current and globalized, it affects the entire world due to irresponsible industrial production and on a world wide scale.