Rocks and Minerals - 8.2 Weathering [ARCHIVE]

Question 1

What is weathering?

Answer 1

The physical and chemical processes that break rocks down.

Question 2

What can cause physical weathering?

Answer 2

• Temperature change
• The action of water and ice
• Crystallisation of salts
• Wind
• Living plants

Question 3

What can cause chemical weathering?

Answer 3

-Gases
-Acids
-Water

Question 4

What is physical weathering?

Answer 4

Something that physically breaks apart a rock.

Question 5

What is chemical weathering?

Answer 5

The process where water and chemicals in the water and air react with a rock and change it.

Question 6

How does temperature change affect a rock?

Answer 6

Rapid temperature changes cause rocks to expand and contract, leading to cracking and breakdown due to stress.

Question 7

How does ice weather rocks?

Answer 7

Ice can break down rocks by widening cracks that are already there, this happens because of the water trapped in the rocks that freeze.

Question 8

How do glaciers weather rocks?

Answer 8

Glaciers are like frozen rivers, as they move they slowly scrape away rocks surrounding and this can form valleys.

Question 9

How does water weather rocks?

Answer 9

Water’s constant movement can weather rocks by smashing or washing them away over time.

Question 10

How does the crystallisation of salts weather rocks?

Answer 10

Evaporating water leaves salt crystals inside rocks, causing expansion that can break the rock apart.

Question 11

How does wind weather rocks?

Answer 11

Small particles carried in the wind can blast the rock surface and weather pieces away.

Question 12

How do living plants weather rocks?

Answer 12

As plants grow roots, they can slowly seep through cracks or make their own and as the plarnt grows the cracks can be split as well.

Question 13

How do gases weather rocks?

Answer 13

Carbon dioxide and oxygen react with certain rocks, weakening their structure and causing them to crumble.

Question 14

How do acids weather rocks?

Answer 14

Rainwater can contain acids formed by lightning or pollution, eroding rock as it falls as acid rain.

Question 15

How does water chemically weather rocks?

Answer 15

Rocks with soluble materials dissolve in running water, causing them to break apart.

Question 16

What is erosion?

Answer 16

The process where small particles of rocks broken off by weathering are carried away by wind/water/ice.

Question 17

Where are the most common places for weathering to occur?

Answer 17

Mountains or hills this is because gravity makes water move more rapidly down a slope than on level ground.

Question 18

What is deposition?

Answer 18

The process where eroded rock particles are deposited in rivers etc.

Question 19

How does deposition occur?

Answer 19

This process happens where water, wind, or ice slow down, causing larger particles to deposit in bends.

Question 20

Where does the eroded material go if it is still flowing in the river when it gets to a lake or sea?

Answer 20

If the material is still in the river by the time the river makes it to the sea or a lake it settles to the bottom and build up over time.