Point source (pollution)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Point source (disambiguation).
A point source of pollution is a single identifiable localized source of air, water, thermal, noise or light pollution. A point source has negligible extent, distinguishing it from other pollution source geometries. The sources are called point sources because in mathematical modelling, they can be approximated as a mathematical point to simplify analysis. Pollution point sources are identical to other physics, engineering, optics and chemistry point sources except that their emissions have been labelled as "polluting". Some examples of point-sources of pollution are:
- Air pollution from a power plant flue gas stack
- Water pollution from an oil refinery wastewater discharge outlet
- Noise pollution from a jet engine
- Disruptive seismic vibration from a localised seismic study
- Light pollution from an intrusive street light
- Thermal pollution from an industrial process outfall
- Radio emissions from an interference-producing electrical device
Types of air pollution sources which have finite extent are line sources, area sources and volume sources. Air pollution is also often categorized as either stationary or mobile.
