Ramces M.

Soliman

Assignment # 3

CE-3B

Score______

Difference between Clean Air and Dirty Air

Clean Air
Clean air is air that has no harmful levels of pollutants (dirt and chemicals) in
it. Clean air is good for people to breathe. Clean Air is an odorless, colorless gas mixture.
Excluding water vapor levels, which vary greatly, three major components of dry air: Nitrogen 78.09% Oxygen - 20.95% and Argon -0.93% make up about 99.97% of it's composition. An
important minor component of natural air is Carbon Dioxide - 0.03% (300 ppm). Trace gases
in clean, natural air include: Methane - 0.0002% (2 ppm) & less than 0.0001% (1 ppm) of
Hydrogen, Nitrous Oxide, Ozone and some noble gases. Synthetic Air is also used in
SCBA/SCUBA applications. This type of air is produced by blending Nitrogen and Oxygen
gases in the proper proportions.

Dirty Air
Dirty Air is the presence of substances in air in sufficient concentration and for
sufficient time, so as to be, or threaten to be injurious to human, plant or animal
life, or to property, or which reasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment
of life and property.
An air pollutant that causes a dirty air arises from both manmade and natural processes.
Pollutants are also defined as primary pollutants resulting from combustion of fuels and
industrial operations and secondary pollutants, those which are produced due to reaction of
primary pollutants in the atmosphere. The ambient air quality may be defined by the
concentration of a set of pollutants which may be present in the ambient air we breathe in.
These pollutants may be called criteria pollutants. Emission standards express the allowable
concentrations of a contaminant at the point of discharge before any mixing with the
surrounding air. By combustion sources is meant operations were primarily fossil fuels, coal,
natural gas, petrol, diesel and furnace oil are burnt to obtain energy. Other sources of pollutants
include power plants, industrial boilers, domestic heating and automobiles.

Ramces M. Soliman

Assignment # 4

CE-3B

Score________

Difference between Clean Water and Dirty Water

Clean water is necessary for the survival of most living

things. In fact, dehydration--the lack of water--will kill an
organism faster than starvation--the lack of food. Since the
plants and animals that many humans and other animals eat
also depend upon water, a lack of it could lead to starvation as
well as dehydration. In addition to sustaining life, clean
freshwater is needed by humans for personal hygiene,
irrigation, industry, and recreation. Humans bathe in it, brush
their teeth with it, use it to make crops grow and to cool industrial reactors, and swim, boat, and
fish in it. With all of the demands humans place on the hydrosphere, as well as climate
changes which have led to droughts, the amount of available freshwater is decreasing. In
addition, much of the available freshwater is being contaminated with harmful elements such as
sulfuric acid, fertilizer, and gasoline. This happens as freshwater circulates through the
hydrologic cycle. As precipitation passes through the atmosphere and flows over roads,
agricultural fields, and other human-made objects, it picks up contaminants that often make it
unusable. In a sense, precipitation "washes" the dirt and grime (contaminants) from the air and
Earth's surfaces, just like the water washes the dirt off of you when you bathe. These
contaminants are then carried to the streams, rivers, and eventually into the groundwater, lakes,
and oceans of the world. Water quality may also be affected by natural causes such as volcanic
eruptions. The importance of clean water, coupled with its scarcity due to over-use, climate,
and pollution, has resulted in increased concerns about water quality and quantity.

Dirty water happens when toxic substances enter water bodies

such as lakes, rivers, oceans and so on, getting dissolved in them,
lying suspended in the water or depositing on the bed. This
degrades the quality of water. Not only does this spell disaster for
aquatic ecosystems, the pollutants also seep through and reach the
groundwater, which might end up in our households as
contaminated water we use in our daily activities, including drinking. Some important definitions
and causes of water pollutions are discussed here. Dirty water can be caused in a number of
ways, one of the most polluting being city sewage and industrial waste discharge. Indirect
sources of water pollution include contaminants that enter the water supply from soils or
groundwater systems and from the atmosphere via rain. Water pollution affects plants and
organisms living in these bodies of water. In almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to
individual species and populations, but also to the natural communities. Soils and ground waters
contain the residue of human agricultural practices and also improperly disposed of industrial

wastes.
Types
of
water
pollutants
Pollutants can be of varying kinds: organic, inorganic, radioactive and so on. In fact, the list of
possible water contaminants is just too vast to be listed here.

Ramces M.Soliman

Assignment # 5

CE-3B

Score________

Difference between Clean Soil and Dirty Soil

Clean soil accommodates active and diverse populations of beneficial organisms, with
plant pest populations minimized by beneficial. It contains high levels of relatively fresh residues
that provide beneficial with food. Includes high levels of decomposed organic matter, which help
it retain both water and readily leachable nutrients. Clean soil contains low levels of such toxic
compounds as soluble aluminum and only low to moderate concentrations of salt. This supports
adequate levels of nutrients because excessive nutrients can make the crop more attractive to
insect pests or can increase the threat of surface or subsurface water pollution. It has a
sufficiently porous surface, with many pores connected to subsoil to permit easy entry by rainfall
or irrigation water. It has also good tilt that allows plant roots to easily penetrate large volumes
of soil. Clean soil is also define as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living
system, within ecosystem and land-use boundaries, to sustain biological productivity, promotes
the quality of air and water environments, and maintains plant, animal, and human health.

Dirty soil is defined as the build-up in soils of persistent toxic compounds, chemicals,
salts, radioactive materials, or disease causing agents, which have adverse effects on plant
growth and animal health. Soil is the thin layer of organic and inorganic materials that covers the
Earth's rocky surface. The organic portion, which is derived from the decayed remains of plants
and animals, is concentrated in the dark uppermost topsoil. The inorganic portion made up of
rock fragments, was formed over thousands of years by physical and chemical weathering of
bedrock. Productive soils are necessary for agriculture to supply the world with sufficient food. It
was caused by, seepage from a landfill, discharge of industrial waste into the soil, percolation
of contaminated water into the soil, rupture of underground storage tanks ,excess application of
pesticides, herbicides or fertilizer, solid waste seepage. Having a dirty soil is caused by the
presence of man-made chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment. This type of
contamination typically arises from the rupture of underground storage links, application of
pesticides, and percolation of contaminated surface water to subsurface strata, oil and fuel
dumping, leaching of wastes from landfills or direct discharge of industrial wastes to the soil.
The most common chemicals involved are petroleum hydrocarbons, solvents, pesticides, lead
and other heavy metals. This occurrence of this phenomenon is correlated with the degree of

industrialization and intensities of chemical usage. A soil pollutant is any factor which
deteriorates the quality, texture and mineral content of the soil or which disturbs the biological
balance of the organisms in the soil. Pollution in soil has adverse effect on plant growth.