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View comparePhysical vs Chemical Weathering Training Center
Ari Raider's Training Materials · Canyon Chaos · Training Center 5 of 6
Physical vs Chemical Weathering
Iron-red water is bleeding out of the Rust Bands and everything downstream has gone the color of rust. Rock gets worn down two ways — broken, or changed — and finding the seep means telling them apart.
What you're training for
At the Rust Bands, the canyon wall is being taken apart two different ways at once. The seep closes for whoever can sort each scene into physical or chemical weathering. Train here first; prove it in the simulation.
The science
- Physical weathering breaks rock into smaller pieces of the same stuff: ice splitting a boulder, roots prying a slab, blowing sand scouring a wall.
- Chemical weathering changes what the rock is made of: iron in rock turning to rust, rainwater dissolving limestone, a buried shell dissolving away.
- The test question: is it still the same material, just smaller? Physical. Is it a new substance? Chemical.
- The two team up in nature — physical breaks make more surface for chemical attack, which is why cracked rock rots fastest.
Teach it today — two sticks of chalk
The chalk lab. Chalk stick one: snap it, scratch it, grind a corner — still chalk, just smaller. Physical. Chalk stick two: drop it in vinegar and watch it fizz — the rock is literally becoming something else. Chemical. Two sticks, one unforgettable distinction.
Trained and ready? Prove it at Stop 5 — the Rust Bands. Free, no logins, progress saved on the device.
Enter the Realm at Stop 5Resources in this training center
Worksheets, reading passages, flashcards and printables for this lesson are being added — new resources land here first. Get one email a month when they do, or browse the whole free library.
The hands-on half: the Canyon Chaos Adventure Kit puts six real specimens — tiger iron included — plus six Digs, six Gemlings and the Realm map in your students' hands. $19.99, or $15 a student for classrooms.
More Canyon Chaos training
Weathering, Erosion & Deposition · Rock Layers · Soil Layers · How Dunes Move · Physical vs Chemical · Erosion Control · Enter the Adventure →