Economics of scale can be internal to an organization (cost reduction due to technological and management factors) or external (cost reduction due to the effect of technology in an industry). See also diseconomies of scale. Use economies of scale in a sentence. Big companies are often more profitable than smaller ones because of economies of scale: suppliers may offer discounts for larger orders, shippers may decrease per trip costs to compete for a large volume of business, and necessary production management staff may increase internal manufacturing efficiency.
Weathering describes the means by which soil, rocks and minerals are changed by physical and chemical processes into other soil components. Weathering is an integral part of soil development. Depending on the soil-forming factors in an area, weathering may proceed rapidly over a decade or slowly over millions of years.
All rocks are connected in a cycle of creation, change, and destruction called the Rock Cycle. The rock cycle begins with molten rock (magma below ground, lava above ground), which cools and hardens to form igneous rock. Exposure to weathering and erosional forces, break the original rock into smaller pieces. The smaller material (now called sediment) is carried away by rivers, wind, glaciers, and other means and is eventually deposited elsewhere. These sediments can then be buried and lithified (hardened), forming sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rock can be deeply buried, subjected to heat and pressure, which over time, cause it to change its structure into a new rock, a metamorphic rock. Metamorphism is a big word meaning change.