ACTIVITY ON “WEATHERING"

A. Direction: Write C if the statement is correct and I if the statement is incorrect. Write on the space
provide before each number.

__________1. Gravity is one of the agents of weathering.

__________2. Exfoliation occurs when water continually seeps into cracks,
freezes and expands eventually breaking the rock apart.
__________3. Carbonation occurs when carbon dioxide dissolved in water
makes acid and reacts with rocks.
__________4. Burrowing animals cannot contribute on weathering of rocks.
__________5. Hydrolysis takes place when acid rain reacts with rock-forming
minerals such as feldspar to produce clay and salts that are removed in solution.
__________6. Animals produce acidic compounds that can cause rock
disintegration.
__________7. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide when mix with water produces basic
substance that can break down rocks’ components.
__________8. Humans indirectly contribute on weathering.
__________9. Water alters chemical components of rocks that cause weathering.
__________10. Earthworms are physical weathering agent.

B. Direction: Write P if the given is a physical weathering, C if chemical weathering

and B if it is biological weathering.
__________1. Balete tree grows at the wall of the building.
__________2. Construction workers use power tools to break the rocks.
__________3. Insects secrete acidic substance on rocks.
__________4. Glaciers carve its pathways.
__________5. Rainwater combined with iron on rocks produces rusts.
__________6. Carbon dioxide mix with water produces carbonic acid that reacts with rocks.
__________7. Water freezes in a large crack of a rock.
__________8. Strong winds blow small particles of the rocks.
__________9. Rocks form bubbles after the heavy pour of acid rain.
__________10. Rocks fall down from the mountain and break.
TOPIC: “WEATHERING" (for notes)

Weathering is the process of breakdown of rocks at the Earth’s surface, by

the action of water, ice, acids, salts, plants, animals, gravity and changing

temperatures.

Three types of weathering:

A. Physical Weathering - Physical weathering is caused by the effects of changing temperatures on

rocks, causing the rock to break apart. The process is sometimes assisted by water. It happens especially

in places where there is little soil and few plants grow, such as in mountain regions and hot deserts.

three main types of physical weathering:

1. Abrasion. It occurs when rocks surface is frequently exposed to water,

wind and gravity.

2. Freeze-thaw. It occurs when water continually seeps into cracks, freezes

and expands, eventually breaking the rock apart.

3. Exfoliation. It can happen as cracks develop parallel to the land surface

as a consequence of the reduction in pressure during uplift and erosion.

B. Chemical weathering - Chemical weathering is caused by rainwater reacting with the mineral grains in

rocks to form new minerals (clays) and soluble salts. These reactions occur particularly when the water is

slightly acidic. These chemical processes need water, and occur more rapidly at higher temperature, so

warm, damp climates are best.

most important types of chemical weathering:

1. Carbonation – Carbon dioxide in the air dissolves in rainwater and

becomes weakly acidic. This weak “carbonic acid” can dissolve limestone as it seeps

into cracks and cavities.

2. Acidification - Polluting gases, like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide

dissolve in rainwater to make stronger acids. When this rainwater falls, we get acid

rain. This acid attacks many rock types, both by solution and hydrolysis, seriously

damaging buildings and monuments.

3. Hydrolysis - the breakdown of rock by acidic water to produce clay and

soluble salts. Hydrolysis takes place when acid rain reacts with rock-forming

minerals such as feldspar to produce clay and salts that are removed in solution.
The only common rock-forming mineral that is not affected is quartz, which is a

chemically resistant mineral.

4. Hydration – A type of chemical weathering where water reacts chemically

with the rocks, modifying its chemical structure. Example: H2O (water) is added to

CaSO4 (calcium sulfate) to create CaSO4 + 2H2O (calcium sulfate dihydrate). It

changes from anhydrite to gypsum.

5. Oxidation - the breakdown of rock by oxygen and water, often giving iron

rich rocks a rusty-colored weathered surface.

B. Biological weathering -- Biological weathering of rocks occurs when rocks are weakened by different

biological agents like plants and animals. When plant roots grow through rocks, it creates fracture and

cracks that result eventually to rock breakage.

It can be classified into:

1. Biological Weathering by Physical Means. Burrowing animals like shrews, moles and earthworms

create holes on the ground by excavation and move the rock fragments to the surface. These fragments

become more exposed to other environmental factors that can further enhance their weathering.

2. Biological Weathering by Chemical Compounds. Some plants and animals also produced acidic

substances that react with the rock and cause its slow disintegration.
TOPIC: Composition and Layers of the Atmosphere (for notes)
Composition of the Earth’s Atmosphere
According to NASA, the gases in Earth’s atmosphere include:
 Nitrogen — 78 percent
 Oxygen — 21 percent
 Argon — 0.93 percent
 Carbon dioxide — 0.04 percent
 Trace amounts of neon, helium, methane, krypton and hydrogen, as well as water vapor.

The atmosphere is concentrated at the earth’s surface and rapidly thins as you move
upward, blending with space at roughly 100 miles above sea level. The atmosphere is
actually very thin compared to the size of the earth, equivalent in thickness to a piece of
paper laid over a beach ball. However, it is responsible for keeping our earth habitable
and for producing weather.

Earth’s atmosphere is similar to a jacket for our planet. It surrounds our planet, keeps
us warm, gives us oxygen to breathe, and it is where our weather happens. Earth’s
atmosphere has five layers: the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the
thermosphere, and the exosphere.
TOPIC: THE ORIGIN AND STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH (for notes)

UNIVERSE AND SOLAR SYSTEM

Universe is an all space-time, matter and energy including the solar system, all stars and
galaxies and content of intergalactic space, regarded as a whole. There are three various
theories explaining the origin of the universe;

Steady State Theory. It states that the counting of the galaxies in our Universe is constant and
new galaxies which are forming continuously are filling the empty spaces which are created by
those heavenly bodies which have crossed the boundary lines of observable Universe. This
theory proposes that the overall structure of the universe is always the same at any point in
time and space. This structure is maintained even when certain events, such as birth of new
stars, occur. It is balanced by the death of old stars.

Pulsating Theory: In this theory it is assumed that there is continuous expansion and
contraction in universe. It proposes that the universe will keep expanding more and more then
slowly it stop. Then it will start to contract due to gravitation. This contraction will continue until
the universe become more compact and will later explode and expand again.

Big Bang Theory: It proposes that the entire universe was once condensed in a very small
and compact particle called primeval nucleus. It is estimated that about 20 billion years ago,
primeval nucleus suddenly exploded in a big bang. The force of this explosion caused matter to
scatter in any direction forming a universe.

Biblical Belief on the Formation or Creation of the Universe

“Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. “
The very first claim made in the Bible is that there was a beginning. Since Genesis 1 describes
how God created the universe, and in a certain sequence, there is no doubt that he did that
exactly. God created the universe.

SOLAR SYSTEM
Just a part of the vast universe is our solar system. It is located somewhere in Milky Way
Galaxy. It consists of the sun being at the center, minor and major planets and other celestial
bodies like satellites, comets, asteroids and meteoroids.

ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

There are major theories that explain the origin of the solar system.
1. Nebular Hypothesis Theory. According to this theory, the sun and other celestial bodies
orbiting around it where formed from a nebula- a spinning cloud of gases. These clouds are
gravitationally unstable, and matter coalesces within them to smaller denser clumps, which
then rotate, collapse, and form stars.
2. Accretion Theory. Accretion is the gradual increase in the size of an object by the buildup
of matter due to gravity. The accretion theory says that a protosun passing through a cloud
of interstellar materials pulled this material along causing it to swirl around the protosun. As
the protosun evolved into the sun, the material it accreted gradually formed the planets and
other revolving bodies.
3. Tidal Theory. According to this theory, the time when the sun about to form (protosun), a
large body passing around it may have drawn some gaseous materials from it. The mass of
gaseous materials drawn did not completely escape gravitational pull of the protosun. It
continued to spin around it, eventually becoming more dense and gradually formed into
planetesimals. These planetisimals give rise to the planets and their satellites.
4. Space exploration by means of manned and unmanned spacecrafts give us information
about the solar system and beyond. Achieving spaceflight enabled humans to begin to
explore the solar system and the rest of the universe, to understand the many objects and
phenomena that are better observed from a space perspective, and to use for human
benefit the resources and attributes of the space environment.