A point source of pollution is a single identifiable source of
air,
water,
thermal,
noise or
lightpollution. A
point source has negligible extent, distinguishing it from other pollution source geometries (such as
nonpoint source or
area source). The sources are called point sources because in mathematical modeling, they can be approximated as a mathematical
point to simplify analysis.[1] Pollution point sources are identical to other
physics,
engineering,
optics, and
chemistry point sources and include:
Air pollution from an industrial source (rather than an airport or a road, considered a
line source, or a forest fire, which is considered an area source, or
volume source)[2]