In easy language what is pollution?

Answer 1

Pollution is essentially poisons in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil we grow our food in.

• The air we breathe, when clean, is made up of oxygen, nitrogen and argon - with abit of a few other gases. All these gases have no odour. When gases that smell bad, or are poisonous to animals or plants we say the air is polluted.
• Pure water is colourless and tasteless. When it is cloudy, smells bad, or tastes bad we say it is polluted. There can be poisons in the water that don't smell or taste bad, these make the water polluted as well.
• Soil is a very complicated mixture of powdered rocks, dead plants, insect colonies, air and water. When it contains poisons that affect the ability for plants to grow, we say it is polluted.