Dianna Hutts Aston - A Rock Is Lively

Snowflake Obsidian Depending on what type of rock it is, a rock melts at temperatures between 1,300 and 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit (700 and 1,300 degrees Celsius). All rocks are made of a mix of ingredients called minerals. Just as a batter of flour, butter, and sugar makes a cookie, a batter of minerals makes a rock. The recipe for a rock might include minerals like aluminum, copper, diamond, fluorite, gold, gypsum, lead, nickel, platinum, quartz, silver, sulfur, tin, topaz, and turquoise. Calcite Pyrite Sodalite Lazurite Lapis Lazuli METEOROIDS are rocks that range in size from a grain of sand to a basketball. They become meteors or shooting stars, when they streak through Earths atmosphere and vaporize.

Sometimes pieces of the meteor arent vaporized and land on Earths surface. These are called meteorites. COMETS are balls of rock and icesometimes called dirty snowballsthat are heated by the sun and soar through space, leaving glowing ribbons of dust behind them. ASTEROIDS are gigantic chunks of rocks and metal. They can weigh millions of tons. The largest known asteroid is 650 miles (1,050 kilometers) in diameter.

It would take a person 352 hours, or nearly 15 days, to walk around it.

The oldest known rocks on Earth were formed billions of years before the sky turned from green to blue, before dinosaurs thundered across the earth, before humans learned how to make fire. The oldest rocks ever found are nearly 4.5 billion years old. 1. METERORITE FRAGMENTAlgeria, 4.4 billion years old 2. GREENSTONECanada, 4.28 billion years old 3.

ZIRCON CRYSTALAustralia, 4.1 billion years old 4. LEWISIAN GNEISSScotland, 3 billion years old 5. GRANITEUnited States, 2.5 billion years old

Considered by many to be the worlds largest rock, Australias Mount Augustus is a sandstone rock with an elevation, or height, of 3,628 feet (1,106 meters) above sea levelabout 1,000 feet (305 meters) higher than the worlds tallest skyscraper. The carpets of sand on the floors and shores of oceans, lakes, and rivers come from larger rocks that have been ground, through weathering, into tiny grains. Some birds swallow stones to help them digest food. Crocodiles, seals, and sea lions also ingest rocks. Crocodiles, seals, and sea lions also ingest rocks.

The extra weight, or ballast, helps them dive deeper and stay steady in water. Sea otters lie on their backs and use rocks to crack open shells on their stomachs. Seagulls drop mollusks onto rocks to break apart their shells. Chimpanzees and crows crack the hard shells of nuts on rocks.

Some rocks need to be broken open to reveal their beauty. Geodesround, hollow rocks found mostly in deserts or beds of volcanic ashhide sparkly crystals.

The crystals were once liquids but, trapped inside rock for thousands of years, they changed into jewels of many colors. Agates, too, with their colorful layers created by liquid deposits, are often found in volcanic rock. 1. Amethyst Geode 2. Laguna Agate 3. Malachite and Azurite Geode 4.

Septarian Geode 5. Azurite Geode 6. Chrysanthemum Rock 7. Watermelon Tourmaline 8. Blue Lace Agate 9. Idar-Oberstein Agate

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