2.  Rocks are made up either Sedimentary, Igneous or Metamorphic. Almost all rocks are made of minerals, but different rocks contain different mixtures of minerals.  A large piece of rock which has become separated from a cliff, mountain or a boulder.  The inside rocks are minerals. They are usually very small.

3.  A mineral is a naturally occurring substance that is solid and inorganic representable by a chemical formula, usually abiogenic, and has an ordered atomic structure. It is different from a rock, which can be an aggregate of minerals or non-minerals and does not have a specific chemical composition. Minerals are classified by key chemical voters; the two dominant systems are the Dana classification and the Strunz classification. The silicate class of minerals is subdivided into six subclasses by the degree of polymerization in the chemical structure.polymerization

4.  There are over 4,900 known mineral species. About 30-50 new minerals are described and 1 or 2 minerals have fallen each year. The most complete listing of minerals is J.Mandarino Fleischer’s Glossary of mineral Species 1999 published by the Mineralogical record.over 4,900

5.  Soil was rocks, but it has just been crushed over time by the elements you know like the wind and rain and now it is in the earth and it is plants food. How do plants eat the food? Well, plants have roots that suck up all the good nutrients in the soil.  Soil is also a home for little creatures like worms, bugs or grubs and other creepy crawlies.  Soils are complex mixtures of minerals, water, air, organic matter, and countless organisms that are the rotten remains of once-living things. It forms at the surface of land – it is the “skin of the earth.” Soil is capable of supporting plant life and is vital to life on earth.  The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.

6.  So what is dirt? Dirt is what gets on our clothes or under our fingernails. It is soil that is out of place in our world – whether tracked inside by shoes or on our clothes. Dirt is also soil that has lost the characteristics that give it the ability to support life – it is “dead.” Soil performs many critical functions in almost any ecosystem (whether a farm, forest, prairie, marsh, or suburban watershed). There are seven general roles that soils play:  Soils serve as media for growth of all kinds of plants.  Soils modify the atmosphere by emitting and absorbing gases (carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and the like) and dust.  Soils provide habitat for animals that live in the soil (such as groundhogs and mice) to organisms (such as bacteria and fungi), that account for most of the living things on Earth.  Soils absorb, hold, release, alter, and purify most of the water in terrestrial systems.  Soils process recycled nutrients, including carbon, so that living things can use them over and over again.  Soils act as a living filter to clean water before it moves into an aquifer.  Soils serve as engineering media for construction of foundations, roadbeds, dams and buildings, and preserve or destroy artifacts of human endeavors.

7.  A gemstone or gem (also called a fine gem, jewel, or a precious or semi- precious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli) or organic materials that are not minerals (such as amber or jet), are also used for jewelry, and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some soft minerals are used in jewelry because of their luster or other physical properties that have artistic value. Rarity is another characteristic that lends value to a gemstone. Apart from jewelry, from earliest antiquity engraved gems and hardstone carvings, such as cups, were major luxury art forms. A gem maker is called a lapidary or gemcutter; a diamond worker is a diamantaire.crystaljewelryrockslapis lazuliorganicamberjetlusterengraved gemshardstone carvingslapidarygemcutterdiamonddiamantaire

8.  Gemstones are rare minerals crystals valued for their beauty. Historically, gems have been classified as either precious or semi-precious stones. The meanings precious or semi-precious stones have changed over time and according to culture. For example, the ancient Greeks thoughts Amethyst was a precious stone; however, today Amethyst is regarded as a semi-precious stone because we’ve found so many of them in South America.  There are over 130 gemstones. These are some Birth Stones  Jan : Garnet  Feb : Amethyst  March: Aqua marine  April: Diamond  May: Emerald  June: Pearl  July: Ruby  August: Periodt  September: Sapphire  October: Tourmaline  November: Topaz  December: Tanzanite

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