I keep my rocks all over my house er- tiny apartment. I live in a dense city and rocks have always been my connection to nature wherever I am. I’ve been picking them up my whole life! Mine are on shelves, windowsills, countertops. I have a box of bigger ones out on the fire escape. I was even putting some in the pots of my plants when I’d re-soil just to bring them back to home-y feeling and rediscover them later! So where are your rocks? Do you have a special shelf? Do you hold onto them for weeks? Months? Years?

Believe it or not there is a subtle, yet important difference between the terms ‘Rock’ and ‘Stone’. Though using them interchangeably is not some big faux pas, it is interesting to note they are definitionally different. ROCK - a rock is usual replete with its natural jagged edges and mass. Rocks vary in size dramatically - from the palm of your hand to mountain sized boulders. A single continuous mass of minerals and mineraloids make up rocks. A rock is typically what we find on a hiking trail. STONE - a stone is defined differently mostly by its shape, smoothness, and size. A stone is typically weathered by nature or human intervention till the surface has lost all protruding features. Stones can be large, but typically aren’t recognized as such when they are larger than human scale. A stone is typically what we find on the shore of a lake. Stones are used in the context of construction or decoration. From geology.in : “The key thing to note is that geologists use "rock" as a broader term to describe large masses of material that make up the Earth's crust, including mountains, plateaus, and cliffs.” Pretty cool right?

I'm curious where you guys are all from- rep your hometown below 👇

Hi everyone, I’m in Texas right now, specifically San Antonio. The geology isn’t crazy diverse, but the rocks that do show off are particularly cool. South Texas is covered in Limestone. Around 500 million years ago, most of the southern US was covered by a warm shallow sea. It retreated overtime and left millions of crustaceans, coral and dead sea life exposed. Over time these fossilized while compacting and turned into a rich layer of rock. This is what we call Limestone. Limestone has some easy to identify features, like porousness, but can be confidently confirmed by an acid test. A couple drops of diluted hydrochloric acid (hydrogen peroxide is a common household acid that can work) causes the carbonate in the limestone to dissolve. While dissolving it fizzes and bubbles. When it does that, you’ve got limestone! The acid test proves carbonate is in the makeup of the rock. Carbonate is a derivative of organic matter. So if you get fizzing on your rock, that’s a good indication that part of the rock was once a living thing! Anyway, here’s some cool pictures of very porous limestone just hanging out in my parent’s neighborhood. Q: any limestone in your collection? Do the acid test and find out!

I saw this at Harvards geology museum and was blown away. It’s amazing how the atomic structure of the mineral builds on itself over and over and over to the point where it completely encases the host rock it’s growing on. Then growing as a perfect cube to boot! As if that weren’t amazing enough Topaz naturally colors as a translucent aquamarine blue. It can also take on Smokey orange and brown colors, but always remains translucent. This is why it’s considered a gem and has been highly sought after for generations. Do you have any topaz jewelry? Ever seen it in this raw form?