The alternate heating and cooling of rocks will result in
Answer Details
The **alternate heating and cooling of rocks** will primarily result in **fragmentation**. This process is commonly known as **physical weathering** or **mechanical weathering**.
Here's how it works:
During the day, **rocks heat up due to sunlight**. This causes the outer layers of the rock to **expand**.
At night, the **temperature drops**, causing the rock layers to **cool and contract**.
This repeated process of expansion and contraction due to temperature changes creates **stress within the rock structure**.
Over time, this stress causes the outer layers of the rock to **crack and break apart**, leading to **fragmentation** of the rock.
In contrast, the other processes listed involve different conditions:
**Sublimation** refers to the direct transition of a substance from a solid to a gas, which is not relevant to rock weathering through temperature changes.
**Solidification** involves the hardening of a substance from a liquid to a solid state, not fragmentation.
**Molten magma** is formed under conditions of intense heat that melt rock into a liquid state, unrelated to the cooling process described above.
Thus, the **alternate heating and cooling of rocks** primarily results in their **fragmentation** into smaller pieces.