the.com/gypsum
the rock so soft your fingernail bullies it, yet it built civilization's walls.
means Gypsum is a soft, chalky mineral made of hydrated calcium sulfate, mined and baked into plaster, drywall, and cement.
from From Latin gypsum, lifted straight from Greek gypsos, meaning chalk or plaster — a word the Greeks likely borrowed from somewhere further east (a Semitic source is often suggested, possibly related to Arabic jibs). So the name has been traveling the Mediterranean almost as long as the stone has been smeared on walls.
- mohs hardness
- Just 2, scratchable by a fingernail
- drywall king
- Nearly every modern wall is its powder
- desert flowers
- Forms crystal roses in arid sands
- white sands
- New Mexico's dunes are pure gypsum
- plaster of paris
- Heat it, add water, casts your broken bones
white sands national park — 275 square miles of gypsum dunes in new mexico, world's largest gypsum dune field
grand canyon gypsum caves — largest selenite (gypsum crystal) caves in arizona, some crystals over 3 feet long
naica crystal cave — chihuahua, mexico: giant selenite gypsum crystals up to 36 feet long, discovered 2000