Stone steps erode with every footstep, leading to indents over time, right? But other things seem to erode on their own through time alone, so what causes that? Wind and rain? Would it therefore be correct to say that anything, if subjected to constantly running water, loses a few atoms every second and would eventually erode? Would this mean nothing is technically 100% waterproof? Or can things erode on their own without an external force? Thanks!
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Depends on the context.
On earth, everything is subject to atmospheric and environmental forces. So things erode more quickly than they would otherwise- like in space. Space still has forces that work to erode, but they tend to work over much longer time frames.
The Sun is “eroding,” in a sense and will ultimately collapse in 7 or 8 Billion years.
But then again, some eroding is just breaking into smaller parts, so is the original broken, or has it been miniaturized and multiplied?
If a boulder was once part of a tectonic plate, is the boulder the erosion, or does it stand alone, to further erode?
Ultimately the law of Conservation of Mass imposes that regardless of physical and chemical changes, the same amount of matter still persists.
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