Chapter One Earth’s Ingredients Rocks minerals and soil make up our solid Earth We depend on them everyday We use rocks for instance in all of our streets and highways Our homes and buildings also contain rock both inside and out Minerals play a big role in our lives too Coins and cell phones computers and glass all make use of minerals Wires that carry electricity to our cities and towns contain minerals as well So do pencils and toothpaste Modern technology relies on the silicon chip which comes from the mineral quartz 4
Our dependency on soil is just as great Soil is the very ground under our feet We walk and build on it We also grow plants in it Whether it’s farmland prairie or forest the plants of the world need soil The rest of us need plants to survive MINERAL ROCK SOIL Rocks minerals and soil are all useful to us in their own ways But they are not as separate as they seem These materials are linked together throughout nature 5
Rock Basics Rock is the hard solid material all around us Huge masses of rock make up the solid part of Earth But rocks come in smaller sizes too from boulders and pebbles to sand and clay BOULDERS SAND PEBBLES 6
Whatever their size rocks share something in common they all consist of minerals Most rocks contain two or more minerals Sometimes though a single mineral makes up a rock Minerals in many rocks are easy to see But minerals can be very tiny as well People often mine rocks for the minerals they contain 7
