The prospector moved slowly across a rocky, desert hillside. He was searching for a very valuable mineral. But he had no pick or shovel. As he walked along, he held a metal tube over the rocks. A...
The Iron Age mineral
Safety pins and skyscrapers, scissors and steamships, automobiles and airplanes---none of these things could be made without the mineral called iron. Iron is a metal, like copper and tin and bronze....
The Bronze Age minerals
> ancient copper head from Iran > > This copper head was made thousands of years ago. It is no longer > bright because, in time, copper is covered with a greenish coating > called patina. > >...
A crystal garden
When small crystals of a mineral join together, they "grow" into larger crystals. You can see how crystals grow by growing some crystals yourself. Here's what you will need: 6 tablespoons of water ...
Flat sides and sharp corners
A chunk of mineral may seem to be just a jagged, lumpy, or twisty piece of hard stuff with no special shape. But each kind of mineral is actually made up of tiny shapes called crystals---shapes that...
Solid stuff
It takes a lot of things to make cookies---flour, milk, eggs, butter, sugar. But when the cookies are baked, you can't see that there are a lot of things in them. Everything is all mixed together. A...
The rock factory
The earth is a rock factory. Scientists believe it has been making rocks for billions of years. The earth makes three different kinds of rocks. One kind is made from hot, syrupy liquids, deep inside...
Rocks, Stones, and Petrified Bones
Rocks, Stones, and Petrified Bones Rocks, Stones, and Petrified Bones
Soil, sand, and dust
> Tiny chips of rock and powdered flower petals. Bits of bats' wings and > birds' feathers. Fragments of dried-up caterpillar skin and pieces of > mouse whiskers. > > That isn't a recipe for a magic...
Icy bulldozers
glacier, Chile Some of the snow on a high mountaintop melts and runs off. But much of it stays all year round. The snow that stays becomes hard and grainy, like salt. As new snow falls each year,...