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• Mountains of Minerals
• What Do You See?
• Order In the Rocks
• What Kind of Rock Am I?
• Help...I'm Falling Apart!
• Home Sweet Home
• I Need You!
• Sizing It Up!
• Dirt By Any Other Name
• What Layers Are There?
• You've Got What I Need!
• Keeping Soil In Its Place
• Plants Without Soil?
• Science Language

Rocks and Soils - Mountains of Minerals

Elementary My Dear!
If you want to build a tractor, or a car or make a tuna fish sandwich, you have to use a number of different materials in the correct proportions. Of course the "recipe" for a car is much different than a "recipe" for a tuna sandwich, but the list of "basic" materials that everything on Earth is made from is not very long. There are only 88 basic ingredients from which to choose. These ingredients are the building blocks of the universe. Oxygen and hydrogen make the water that surrounds the Earth. Silicon and oxygen make the sand that you love to dig your toes into at the beach. Sodium and chlorine make the stuff that you love to sprinkle all over your French fries, salt. Our planet is made from thousands of combinations of elements. Eight of these elements are very common. These elements are the "building blocks" for most of the Earth's crust.

The most abundant elements found in the Earth's crust are: 

Earth Recipes
Minerals are "recipes" of the elements found on the Earth's crust. If you want to make a caramel apple, you must use certain ingredients to make the caramel apple taste like the sweet, gooey treat that it is. Although you probably like ketchup on your hamburger, you do not use it in your caramel apple recipe - YUK! Minerals are also found in certain recipes on Earth. All minerals occur in nature. They are all solids.   Most minerals are inorganic, which means they were not formed by any type of life process. Each mineral has a special recipe.  Materials found in each mineral are arranged in a certain way. There are more than 2,000 minerals found on Earth. Of those 2,000 minerals, only twelve of them make most of the rocks found on the planet.

Who Says You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat Rocks Too?
We know what you are thinking. If you had your choice you would probably prefer to see your favorite cherry chocolate birthday cake recipe on this page. After all, who wants to eat rocks? But before you get too disappointed, we will let you in on a little secret. You can eat the rocks you make using the recipe on this page. You will also learn a thing or two about rocks while you test and "taste" your rock recipe.

What's The Difference?

Materials:

• Clear plastic cups
• Flavored gelatin, such as Jell-O®
• Food items to mix with the gelatin

So what is the difference between a rock and a mineral? Do you know the answer? Minerals are made from combinations of elements. Rocks are made from combinations of minerals. Let's pretend that one day you decided to make gelatin. It is not too difficult to make. First, you boil water. Then you add the powder from the gelatin package and then add some ice. The gelatin is made from one basic ingredient. Think of the gelatin as a mineral.

Rocky Start
Plain gelatin is good stuff, but maybe you like your gelatin full of surprises. Do you like whip cream? Let's add some to your gelatin. How about pineapple? Throw it in. Add as many ingredients as you would like to your gelatin. Think of each of these items as a mineral. Are you figuring out what you are making now? If you are thinking "rock," you are absolutely right. Rocks are combinations of minerals. Rocks are solids made of combinations of minerals. Minerals are the building blocks of rocks and rocks are identified by the minerals they contain.

The Incredible, Edible Rock
Be sure to have an adult help you with this lab.

Materials:

• 1/4-cup of butter or margarine
• 40 large marshmallows
• 6 cups of rice cereal
• Various ingredients to represent minerals (raisins, nuts, M&M^® candies, chocolate chips, Skittles^®, etc.)
• Sauce pan
• Bowl
• Stirring spoon
• Hot plate or stove
• Cooking spray or butter to coat hands

Procedure:

1. Pour the cereal into a large bowl.
2. In a pan melt the butter and marshmallows over low heat.
3. Add the "minerals" to the mixture.
4. Wash and rinse hands and then coat them with butter or cooking spray.
5. Scoop out 1/2 cup of the mixture and press into a rock.
6. Repeat the above step until all of the mixture has been made into rocks.

Analysis:
Wait! Before you eat your rocks, answer the following questions:

1. Are all of the rocks exactly alike? Explain your answer.
2. Do some of the rocks contain more of certain minerals than others do?
3. Are some rocks larger than others?
4. If you were a scientist giving your rock a name, what would you call your rock? Explain your answer.