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Science project idea on how soil is produced by weathering.
Soil Produced by Weathering- Science Project Idea
How soil has been produced by weathering.Some of the agencies that change rock into soil can easily be understood.Break a rock, and compare the broken surface with the surface of the rock which has been exposed to the weather.What is your conclusion? The oxygen of the air may act upon some of the minerals of the rocks causing a change which results in their crumbling. This is similar to the action of oxygen in causing the rusting of iron.Carbon dioxide dissolved in water is one of the most efficient agents in the breaking down of rocks.It is the action of carbon dioxide in water which has produced the great caves such as Luray Cave in Virginia, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and Wyandotte Cave in Indiana, as well as hundreds of smaller ones in various parts of the country where limestone is the common rock.This action can be shown by passing carbon dioxide through water containing a small amount of finely powdered marble. What do you think might be the effect upon some rock of alternate heating and cooling caused by the temperature changes of day and night?
Science Experiment on Soil Produced by Weathering Soil Produced by Weathering Experiment Heat a glass tube and plunge it into cold water.What happens?The cracking of the rocks by this means exposes more surface for the action of the weather.
What will happen in cold weather to the water which is in the crevices of the rock?What effect will this have upon the rock?This can be illustrated by exposing to a freezing temperature a tightly stoppered test tube filled with water.The force due to the expansion of water when it changes into ice causes the bursting of water pipes and the ruin of automobile radiators, if cars are permitted to remain in unheated garages in very cold weather without removal of the water.(This latter may be prevented by adding to the water in the radiator some substance, alcohol for example, which has a lower freezing point.) The great masses of broken rock at the foot of cliffs, as at the base of the Palisades along the Hudson River, are caused very largely by the final breaking off of pieces of rock by the expansion of freezing water which has gotten into the crevices formed by temperature changes.Roots of trees growing in the crevices of rocks also assist in the further splitting of the rocks.
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