Earth Science 11

Earth Science – Grade 11

Quarter 2 – Module 1: Weathering
First Edition, 2020

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Published by the Department of Education Division of Pasig City

Development Team of the Self-Learning Module

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Pasig City
Earth Science 11
Quarter 2
Self-Learning Module 1
Weathering
Introductory Message
For the facilitator:

Welcome to the Earth Science Self-Learning Module 1 on Weathering

This Self-Learning Module was collaboratively designed, developed and

reviewed by educators from the Schools Division Office of Pasig City headed by its
Officer-in-Charge Schools Division Superintendent, Ma. Evalou Concepcion A.
Agustin, in partnership with the City Government of Pasig through its mayor,
Honorable Victor Ma. Regis N. Sotto. The writers utilized the standards set by the K
to 12 Curriculum using the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELC) in
developing this instructional resource.

This learning material hopes to engage the learners in guided and independent
learning activities at their own pace and time. Further, this also aims to help learners
acquire the needed 21st century skills especially the 5 Cs, namely: Communication,
Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Character while taking into
consideration their needs and circumstances.

In addition to the material in the main text, you will also see this box in the
body of the module:

Notes to the Teacher

This contains helpful tips or strategies that
will help you in guiding the learners.

As a facilitator you are expected to orient the learners on how to use this
module. You also need to keep track of the learners' progress while allowing them to
manage their own learning. Moreover, you are expected to encourage and assist the
learners as they do the tasks included in the module.
For the Learner:

Welcome to the Earth Science Self-Learning Module 1 on Weathering

This module was designed to provide you with fun and meaningful
opportunities for guided and independent learning at your own pace and time. You
will be enabled to process the contents of the learning material while being an active
learner.

This module has the following parts and corresponding icons:

Expectations - This points to the set of knowledge and skills

that you will learn after completing the module.

Pretest - This measures your prior knowledge about the lesson

at hand.

Recap - This part of the module provides a review of concepts

and skills that you already know about a previous lesson.

Lesson - This section discusses the topic in the module.

Activities - This is a set of activities that you need to perform.

Wrap-Up - This section summarizes the concepts and

application of the lesson.

Valuing - This part integrates a desirable moral value in the

lesson.

Posttest – This measures how much you have learned from the
entire module.
EXPECTATIONS

Welcome to Earth Science- our interrelation to Earth and its

neighbors in space. In this module, you will learn about how rocks undergo
weathering. This consists of activities that will help you enhance your
character, critical thinking skills, communication skills, collaboration and
creativity.

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. describe how rocks undergo weathering;

2. enumerate the different types of weathering; and
3. recognize the importance of weathering on Earth.

PRETEST

Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a separate
sheet of paper.
1. Which of the following processes is the breaking down of rocks, soil, and
minerals on Earth’s surface?
a. Deposition
b. Erosion
c. Metamorphism
d. Weathering
2. Which among the choices is NOT a main type of weathering?
I. Chemical
II. Mechanical
III. Mineral
IV. Practical
a. I and II b. II and III c. I and IV d. III and IV
3. What happens during Hydrolysis?
a. During hydrolysis, water chemically reacts with minerals and breaks them
down to form other minerals
b. During hydrolysis, when the heat of an intense forest fire bakes a rock, the
outer layer of the rock expands.
c. During hydrolysis, dissolved salt in groundwater precipitates and grows as
crystals in open pore spaces in rocks.
d. During hydrolysis, rocks transform iron bearing minerals into a rusty
brown mixture of various iron-oxide and iron-hydroxide minerals.
4. Chemical weathering changes the composition of rocks, often transforming
them when water interacts with minerals to create various chemical reactions.
Which of the following is NOT a Chemical weathering?
a. Dissolution
b. Frost wedging
c. Hydration
d. Hydrolysis
5. Why is weathering important on Earth?
a. Because weathering causes soil or layers of soil to be moved or worn away.
b. Because weathering provides the sediments that form sedimentary rocks
c. Because weathering comprises recrystallization, deformation,
fragmentation, and alternation of rocks.
d. Because weathering helps the sediments compact under pressure, expel
connate fluids, and gradually become solid rock.

RECAP

From your lessons in First quarter, you have learned about rocks and minerals.
Can you still remember the different types of rocks and what are the different
processes how each types of rocks are formed? What is a mineral? Why are minerals
important to society? Let’s have a simple activity to refresh your mind.

Direction: Identify the term/s that are being described in each number. Write your
answer on a separate paper.

1. Rocks form from the cooling of molten rock at or below the surface of the earth.
2. Rocks are formed by great heat and pressure.
3. Rocks form from compaction and cementation.
4. Naturally occurring, inorganic, solid, definite chemical composition,
and ordered internal structure.
5. The most abundant group of minerals and it contains oxygen and silicon atoms.
Congratulations! Now, let us explore our new lesson for today!

LESSON

In first-quarter lessons, you have already learned about different types of

rocks and how each type is formed. Rocks have different properties such as sizes,
shapes, textures, and mineral compositions. Now, let us describe how rocks undergo
weathering.
Do this!
1. Get two glasses of water and a pinch of salt and sugar.
2. Put the pinch of sugar in one glass of water and put the salt in another glass
of water.
3. Stir each glass
4. Observe what will happen
With the simple activity, you determined these pinch of salt and sugar changed
its sizes and why did it change? Due to water the salt and sugar changed its sizes.
When the salt and sugar begin to break down and dissolve, it is called weathering.

What is Weathering?
Weathering is a process where rocks, soil, and minerals are broken down into
pieces.

Now identify if the following is an example of weathering or not.

1. 3.

[Link] [Link]

2. 4.
[Link] [Link]

Pictures 1, 2 and 3 are all examples of weathering while picture 4 is not because the
picture showed compaction.
The agents of weathering are water, ice, acids, salts, plants, animals, and
changes in temperature whether it is cold or hot.
What are the different types of Weathering?
The different types of weathering are physical weathering, and chemical
weathering.

1. Physical Weathering
Sometimes called mechanical weathering, is the process that breaks rocks
apart without changing their chemical composition.
Physical weathering happens especially in places where there is little soil and
few plants grow, such as in mountain regions and hot deserts.
The examples of physical weathering

a. Frost Wedging or Freeze-Thaw

Causes many rocks to break. This refers to the repeated freezing and
melting of water within small narrow crack or space in the rock surface.
Water expands by 9 percent when it freezes into ice. As it expands, it
exerts up to 4.3 million pounds per square foot of the pressure, enough to
open cracks and fissures in rocks.
Cracks may also allow entry of roots, agents of biological weathering
that can also pry apart rock.

b. Crystal Formation or Salt Wedging

Source: [Link]

Crystal formation similarly cracks the rock. Most water contains dissolved salts.
When the water in rock fissures evaporates, salt crystals form that, like ice, can force
open fissures. This “salt wedging” tends to be most pronounced in arid regions given
the high evaporation rates; it also occurs along seacoasts.
c. Swiftly moving water
Rapidly moving water can lift, for short periods, rocks from the stream bottom. When
these rocks drop, they collide with other rocks, breaking tiny pieces off.
d. Plant roots
Plant roots can grow in cracks. The pressure of a confined growing root can be
substantial. These pressures make cracks in the rocks larger, and, as roots grow,
they can break rocks apart.
e. Exfoliation
This occurs as cracks develop parallel to the land surface a consequence of the
reduction in pressure during uplift and erosion.

2. Chemical Weathering
Chemical weathering changes the molecular structure of rocks and soil.

a. Solution or dissolution - removal of rock in solution by acidic rainwater. In

particular, limestone is weathered by rainwater containing dissolved CO2,
(this process is sometimes called carbonation).

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

soluble salts.

c. Oxidation - is the reaction of a substance with oxygen. The breakdown of rock

by oxygen and water, often giving iron-rich rocks a rusty-colored weathered
surface.
d. Acid Rain-Acids react with rock and strip away essential chemicals from the
structure of minerals that rocks are made of. Acids are particularly effective
at removing calcium from minerals.
e. Carbonation-is a type of chemical weathering. It is the process of combining
water with carbon dioxide to make carbonic acid. This is important in making
caves. Dissolved carbon dioxide in water or moist air forms carbonic acid, and
this acid reacts to minerals in rocks.

Factors that Affect the Rate of Weathering

1. Properties of the Parent Rock
The mineralogy and structure of rock affect it’s susceptibility to weathering.
Different minerals weather at different rates
2. Climate
This is the most important factor affecting the weathering of rocks. The extent of
weathering is dependent on the average atmospheric condition prevailing in a region
over a long period
3. Soil
Affect the rate in which rock weathers. Soils retain rainwater so that rocks covered
by soil are subjected to chemical reactions with water much longer than rocks not
covered by soil.
4. Length of Exposure
The longer a rock is exposed to the agents of weathering, the greater the degree of
alteration, dissolution, and physical breakup. Lava flows that are quickly buried by
subsequent lava flows are less likely to be weathered than a flow that remains
exposed to the elements for long periods.
Importance of weathering
1. most important in the formation of soils
2. major forces that shape the Earth’s surface
3. an important part of the rock cycle
4. provides the sediments that form sedimentary rocks

ACTIVITIES

Activity 1-A
Direction: Classify each number whether the following is a Physical Weathering or a
Chemical Weathering. Write PW for physical Weathering and CW for Chemical
Weathering.

1 Hydrolysis
2 Frost wedging
3 Thermal Expansion
4 Microbial Activity
5 Carbonation
6 Acid rain
7 Burrowing Animals
8 Gravitational Impact
9 Salt wedging
10 Oxidation

Now, compare and contrast the three types of weathering. Do Activity I-B.

Activity 1-B
Direction: Use the Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two types of
weathering.
Activity I-C

Modified True or False

DIRECTION: Write TRUE if the underline word/s is correct but if it is False change
the underlined word/s to make the sentence/s correct.

______________________1. Physical weathering, also called mechanical weathering

or disaggregation, is a class of processes that cause rocks to break up without
chemical change.
______________________2. Heating causes rock to expand and cooling causes it to
contract.
______________________3. Oxidation is a type of chemical weathering and it is the
process of mixing water with carbon dioxide to make carbonic acid.
______________________4. Physical weathering change the molecular structure of
rocks and soil.
______________________5. Freeze-Thaw is the reaction of a substance with oxygen.
______________________6. Salt Wedging is the chemical breakdown of a substance
when combined with water.
______________________7. Root Wedging is the process in which roots grow into the
cracks in rocks and force the cracks open as they continue to grow.
______________________8. The factors that affect the rate of weathering are
properties of the parent rock, climate, soil and length of exposure.
______________________9. Biological weathering Is a natural phenomenon or
disintegration process that occurs on rocks due to living things.
______________________10. Soil is the most important factor affecting weathering of
rocks.

WRAP-UP

To summarize what you have learned about weathering answer the activity by
completing the concept map below.
VALUING

Weathering is a process where rocks, soil, and minerals are broken down into
pieces. Suggest any benefits of weathering to us through writing an acrostic poem.

W___________________________________________________________________
E___________________________________________________________________
A___________________________________________________________________
T___________________________________________________________________
H___________________________________________________________________
E___________________________________________________________________
R___________________________________________________________________
I____________________________________________________________________
N___________________________________________________________________
G___________________________________________________________________

POSTTEST

Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of
paper.
1. What is physical weathering?
a. is changes the molecular structure of rocks and soil
b. is the most important factor affecting weathering of rocks
c. is changes the molecular structure of rocks and soil the process that
breaks rocks apart without changing their chemical composition.
d. is the weakening and subsequent disintegration of rock by plants, animals
and microbes.
2. Which of the following is NOT a type of Mechanical/Physical Weathering?
a. Carbonation
b. Exfoliation
c. Frost wedging
d. Salt wedging
3. Which of the following chemical weathering is the process of combining water
with carbon dioxide to make carbonic acid?
a. Carbonation
b. Hydrolysis
c. Oxidation
d. Solution
4. Why is weathering important on comprises Earth?
a. Because weathering causes soil or layers of soil to be moved or worn away.
b. Because weathering provides the sediments that form sedimentary rocks
c. Because weathering recrystallization, deformation, fragmentation, and
alternation of rocks.
d. Because weathering helps the sediments compact under pressure, expel
connate fluids, and gradually become solid rock.
5. What happens during Hydrolysis?
a. During hydrolysis, water chemically reacts with minerals and breaks them
down to form other minerals
b. During hydrolysis, when the heat of an intense forest fire bakes a rock, the
outer layer of the rock expands.
c. During hydrolysis, dissolved salt in groundwater precipitates and grows as
crystals in open pore spaces in rocks.
d. During hydrolysis, rocks transform iron bearing minerals into a rusty
brown mixture of various iron-oxide and iron-hydroxide minerals.

KEY TO CORRECTION

Wrap-up

Valuing : The answer of the students about the benefits of weathering to

us may vary depending on the contents, opinions and style of the students

Posttest 1. c 2. a 3. a 4. b 5. a
Pretest 1. a 2. d 3. a 4. b 5. a
Recap 1. Igneous [Link] [Link] 4. 5.
Rocks Rocks Rocks Minerals Silicates
For Activity I-A,

1. CW 2. PW [Link] 4. PW 5. CW
6. CW 7. PW 8. PW 9. PW 10. CW

Activity 1-B
Answers may vary depending on the answer of the students.
Activity 1-C

1. TRUE 2. TRUE 3. 4. Chemical 5. Oxidation

Carbonation weathering
6. 7. TRUE 8. TRUE 9. TRUE 10. Climate
Hydrolysis

References
n.d. [Link]
geology/91154.
n.d. [Link] (accessed July 31, 2020).
National Geographic. April 19, 2018.
[Link] (accessed
July 30, 2020).
Plant and Soil Science elibrary. n.d.
[Link] (accessed July 31,
2020).
The American Geosciences Institute. n.d.
[Link]
ks/what-is-physical-weathering (accessed July 30, 2020).
The Geological Society of London. n.d.
[Link]
[Link] (accessed July 31, 2020).
Zamboni, Jon. Sciencing. n.d. [Link]
[Link] (accessed July 31, 2020).