• Question: how can things like limestone react with things?

    Asked by stoneswh to Ian, Helen on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Helen Fletcher

      Helen Fletcher answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      Hi, had had to email some people in my institute for help with this one and my colleague Pam Triggs has a son who is a geologist and he says:

      Student geologist son just home.

      Limestone is basically calcium carbonate. This reacts with water that contains dissolved carbon dioxide to create calcium hydrocabonate. This is water soluble, and can flow away in cracks in the limestone.

      So, anything that contains water can react with limestone!

    • Photo: Ian van der Linde

      Ian van der Linde answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Limestone (calcium carbonate) needs to be dissolved to react with another substance. This will create free calcium and carbonate that can react with other nearby substances to create new molecules.

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