Spending time along a river can be a fun and relaxing way to spend time outdoors and take in the sights. The running water, wildlife, and even the rocks all add something to the scene. One of my daughter’s favorite activities is collecting rocks and seashells from the banks of a nearby river at a …
Rock tumblers are amazingly simple yet effective machines, but one of the most common complaints their users have is the amount of noise they produce. It’s a shame when would-be rock tumbling enthusiasts have to abandon the hobby because their rock tumblers are too loud for themselves, their family, or even their neighbors to listen …
Asking how much a rock weighs is an interesting question because the answer is, of course, going to depend entirely on the specific rock you’re asking about. I wanted to write this article to give a definitive answer to a question that is more complicated than it might seem on the surface. If you’re curious …
Finding a rock that you think may contain gold is an exciting experience. Maybe you’ve noticed some gold colored flecks or banding or it’s heavier than you would have expected. In any case, if you’ve found a rock that potentially contains gold the next step is to run some tests and verify. Testing a rock …
We’ve all been there. You’re out enjoying the wilderness or a national park and an interesting rock catches your eye. What a great token it would make to remember your trip by! But as you bend to pick it up that nagging question pops up in the back of your mind: Am I allowed to …
There are few things in the world more dangerous and captivating than flowing lava. Seeing lava pouring out of an active volcano is a bucket list item for a lot of people, including myself. Unfortunately, this natural phenomenon is not all that common and it can be hard to know where to go in order …
When people think of rock tumbling they usually just think of the small toy tumblers they saw as kids, but rock tumblers can be much more varied and sophisticated than that. The biggest divide in the type of rock tumblers is between rotary and vibratory tumblers. I’ll dig into all of the differences between them …
What is the strongest rock in the world? It seems like a simple enough question but it’s not particularly easy to answer. I put on my researching hat and dove into the question of what the strongest rock is and why. The strongest rock in the world is diabase, followed closely by other fine-grained igneous …
My rock and mineral collection started as just an accumulation of cool samples I had found on various field trips and vacations. It wasn’t long before I wanted to expand my collection and buy some more display-worthy specimens, but I didn’t know where to start. I decided to put together this guide to give novice …
With the continued industrialization of countries around the world, we’re consuming more mineral resources with every passing year. As we become increasingly reliant on these minerals it’s worth knowing whether or not these resources are renewable, so I did some research on the topic. Minerals are not a renewable resource. There are only finite amounts …