Geology

Abundance of Elements Earth Crust Periodic Table — Earth’s crust contains nearly all of the naturally occurring elements. This table and periodic table shows the relative abundance of elements in the Earth’s crust. Each element is represented by its atomic number, symbol, name, and abundance in milligrams per kilogram of Earth’s crust. Since 1 milligram is one-millionth of […]

Abundance of Elements in Earth’s Crust – Periodic Table and ...

This entry was posted on May 23, 2018 by Todd Helmenstine

Word search puzzles are a fun way to learn glossary terms for a subject. This word search has a hot set of glossary terms dealing with volcanos and vulcanology. Find volcano-themed words from the list forward or backward in vertical, horizontal, and diagonal directions. The puzzle is optimized to fit […]

Volcano Word Search

This entry was posted on April 28, 2018 by Todd Helmenstine (updated on July 20, 2018)

Quartz is only the most common mineral on the Earth's surface. (JJ Harrison) — Have you ever wondered which mineral is the most abundant? There is more than one right answer to the question, depending on the context of the question and how picky you want to get about the answer. Here’s a look at the contenders for the title of Most Common Mineral: […]

What Is the Most Common Mineral? Probably not What You ...

This entry was posted on September 14, 2017 by Anne Helmenstine (updated on October 1, 2017)

This wax model volcano illustrates many of the processes that occur in real volcanoes. — This wax and sand volcano is a realistic model volcano that is easy to make and erupts much like a real volcano. The volcano is extremely simple to make and interesting to watch. Wax “lava” forms a volcano in sand, eventually erupting into the atmosphere, which is water in this […]

Wax Volcano Demonstration – A Realistic Model Volcano

This entry was posted on September 9, 2017 by Anne Helmenstine

Under certain conditions, ice can spontaneously crystallize into shards. This is called ice chandeliering. (photo credit: greg westfall) — Minnesota resident Nadalie Thomas captured an incredible video of a phenomenon called an ice chandelier or ice chandeliering, where ice on the frozen lake crystallizes into sparkling shards, accompanied by a sound like breaking glass. The crystallization continues, producing piles of ice shards. So, how does it work? There are […]

How Chandelier Ice or Ice ‘Chandeliering’ Works

This entry was posted on October 25, 2015 by Anne Helmenstine (updated on February 29, 2016)

Gemstone Wordsearch — Wordsearch puzzles are always fun. This gemstone wordsearch puzzle adds to the fun with the names of 31 different gemstones. The gemstone names can run vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Click the image to view the full-sized puzzle or download the PDF to print yourself a copy. If you need a […]

31 Flavors of Gemstone Wordsearch Puzzle

This entry was posted on May 20, 2015 by Todd Helmenstine