Thread: Question about erosion.

A friend and I were wondering if a human sucked on a rock nonstop their whole life would it erode? Let's say an average of seventy years. and a stone that could fit in the palm of your hand.

It's not just saliva because the tongue is sort of like sandpaper, and it probably depends on the specific mineral.

Depending on the composition of the rock, yes it is possible for some "erosion" to happen.

One could suck to nothing sandstone or mudstone in about the time it takes to finish a gobstopper. A rice-sized lump of gold... say, embedded in your molar... would last a lifetime.

You feel your saliva could dissolve silica cement in a sandstone?

Individual grains can be gently rubbed from the sandstone of my area. They're weakly cemented with clay and sometimes rust. I imagined one would swallow the sand not chew it.

Hence nmy choice of wording "it depends on the rock".

You must be talking of very young sandstones Pong, as most of the Eocene and Cretaceous ones in SE BC are not easily broken apart.

Originally Posted by Pong

Individual grains can be gently rubbed from the sandstone of my area. They're weakly cemented with clay and sometimes rust. I imagined one would swallow the sand not chew it.

My point was the same as Paleoichnium's: sandstone cements vary enormously. A silica cement would be practically unassailable by sucking, unless you were one of Sigourney Weaver's aliens.