Question

How do rates of chemical weathering change as temperature increases?

Answer 1

Hint: The chemical weathering is a type of weathering caused by the chemical reaction taking place with the minerals present in earth. The chemical weathering is affected by the increase in temperature.

Complete step by step answer:
There are several natural processes which occur in the world and we can see it around us and due to this reason terrain and sea are diverse. Whether it is rain, snow, wind the rocks break down into smaller units, this process is known as weathering. The weathering is caused by various chemical and physical processes which can be seen in rocks, woods, soils and minerals.
Chemical weathering is a type of weathering where the chemical reaction is the cause of weathering. In chemical weathering the rocks and minerals react with acid, oxygen, carbon and water. This is the reason that the two rocks do not look similar.
There are three different types of chemical weathering taking place. They are shown below.
(1) Carbonation: When the rain goes through the air and moves in the ground it mixes with the carbon dioxide forming carbonic acid. The carbonic acid is a weak acid which reacts with the calcium carbonate present in the stone when it moves into the cracks.
(2) Hydrolysis: In hydrolysis, the acid present in the water dissolves the minerals present in the rocks.
(3) Oxidation: The minerals containing high content of iron are oxidized and as a result of oxidation reaction, the rocks appear to be reddish in color.
The chemical weathering is affected by the temperature. As the rate of chemical reaction speeds up when the temperature is increased. Therefore, with increase in the temperature the rate of chemical weathering increases. The rate of chemical weathering is proportional to the temperature.

Note: The other factor that affects the rate of chemical weathering is precipitation. More water allows more chemical reactions. As the water participates in both mechanical and chemical weathering, more water strongly increases weathering.