Calcium carbonate latter is especially evident in day-to-day life of people who have hard water. Water in aquifers underground can be exposed to levels of CO much higher than atmospheric. As such water percolates through calcium carbonate rock, the CaCO dissolves according to the second trend. When that same water then emerges from the tap, in time it comes into equilibrium with CO levels in the air by outgassing its excess CO. The calcium carbonate becomes less soluble as a result and the excess precipitates as lime scale. This same process is responsible for the formation of stalactites and stalagmites in limestone
Calcium carbonate equilibrium pressure must exceed total atmospheric pressure of 101 kPa, which happens at 898 °C. Calcium carbonate is poorly soluble in pure water (47 mg/L at normal atmospheric CO partial pressure as shown below). The equilibrium of its solution is given by the equation (with dissolved calcium carbonate on the right): where the solubility product for [Ca] [CO] is given as anywhere from "K" = 3.7×10 to "K" = 8.7×10 at 25 °C, depending upon the data source. What the equation means is that the product of molar concentration of calcium ions (moles of dissolved Ca per liter of solution)