Pollution Vocabulary
3rd Grade Science

Natural Resources
All of the “natural made” things that
are useful in your environment.

Recycle
The process of treating something so
it can be used again.

Land Pollution
Pollution created when farmers and
gardeners damage the soil by using
too many chemicals to fight weeds
and harmful insects.

Weathering
The destruction or discoloring action
on resources caused by air, water, or
frost, especially on rock or wood.

Contamination
Any unnatural substance that causes
pollution or makes our environment
impure.

Conservation
The act of protecting our resources;
including the land, water, plants,
animals, air.

Aerosol
Very fine particles of a solid or liquid
substance suspended in the air from
some hairspray and deodorant cans.

Fluorocarbons
A group of compounds of fluorine and
carbon that are used as solvents,
lubricants, and refrigerator gases that
can damage the ozone layer.

Ecosystem
All the living and nonliving things in
a place.

Air Pollution
The contamination of the air
especially by industrial waste gases,
fuel exhaust, or smoke.

Water Pollution
Contamination that occurs when
garbage, metals, and chemicals get
into rivers, lakes, and oceans.

Litter
Trash and other items scattered
about the environment by humans.

Environment
Things that make up an area like
land, water, and air.

Ozone Layer
A layer of the atmosphere located
high above the earth and it shields
the planet from dangerous rays of
sun that can cause skin cancer.

Acid Rain
Polluted precipitation caused when
air pollution deposits a high
concentration of sulfuric and nitric
acids into the atmosphere.