Stalactite a cave it will drip down. When the solution comes into contact with air the chemical reaction that created it is reversed and particles of calcium carbonate are deposited. The reversed reaction is: An average growth rate is a year. The quickest growing stalactites are those formed by a constant supply of slow dripping water rich in calcium carbonate (CaCO) and carbon dioxide (CO), which can grow at per year. The drip rate must be slow enough to allow the CO to degas from the solution into the cave atmosphere, resulting in deposition of CaCO on the stalactite. Too fast
Calcium bicarbonate matter, in the formation of the caves themselves. As water containing carbon dioxide (including extra CO acquired from soil organisms) passes through limestone or other calcium carbonate-containing minerals, it dissolves part of the calcium carbonate, hence becomes richer in bicarbonate. As the groundwater enters the cave, the excess carbon dioxide is released from the solution of the bicarbonate, causing the much less soluble calcium carbonate to be deposited. In the reverse process, dissolved carbon dioxide (CO) in rainwater (HO) reacts with limestone calcium carbonate (CaCO) to form soluble calcium bicarbonate (Ca(HCO)). This soluble compound is then washed away with the