Hello and welcome to the “Weathering and Erosion” Scavenger Hunt! As part of your unit on “Weathering and Soil Formation” you will discover the processes of weathering, both chemical and mechanical. The following websites will give you great information and guide you into learning about these processes. Click on each link to the website and then answer the following questions. You will write the answers to the questions in your Science journals with the title “Weathering Scavenger Hunt”. Now get started and have fun!!
Website #1: National Geographic website, it contains many articles and interesting pictures on how important it is for us to take care of our planet. The following link will take you to a page that focuses on “Erosion and Weathering”.
1. What is the definition of Weathering?
2. How do Plants cause mechanical weathering?
3. What example is given for explaining how rainwater can cause weathering?
Website #2: Youtube video on Bill Nye the Science Guy. Watch and listen to Bill Nye as he talks about erosion.
4. In the video, Bill showed an example of erosion of mountains (He used Styrofoam mountains). What was the main cause of the erosion of mountains?
5. In the final experiment, with a quarter on the top of a pile of sand. What did the quarter represent in nature?
Website #3: Geography 4 kids website, it contains articles and images of many topics about Earth Science. The following link will take you to a page that explains Mechanical Weathering.
6. What is the definition of Mechanical Weathering?
7. When does the process of “freeze-thaw” occur?
8. Animals and plants can cause Biological weathering. What organism lives on rocks and causes it to break down?
Website #4: Kidsgeo website, this site explains different topics of geology in a great kid friendly environment. It explains many of the topics in simple way and has some cool images. The following link will take you to a page that explains Chemical Weathering.
9. Why are small rocks more susceptible to chemical weathering?
10. What are the most common types of chemical weathering?
Website #5: This is the state of California’s Department of Conservation website. We have some great examples of geology on our coastal state. This article talks about weathering and offers some great experiments.
11. List at least 2 examples of how weathering can be a good thing.
12. This article has 4 great examples of experiments that represent weathering. Choose one experiment. Name the title and type of weathering it represents.