To complete this unit, you will need these common, household items. - Printer Friendly File

• several clear drinking glasses
• food coloring
• water
• a spoon for stirring
• a glass jar
• several pennies or a piece of copper pipe
• your fingernail
• an iron nail
• an unglazed porcelain tile
• table salt
• course or rock salt
• a magnifying glass
• a hammer
• colored tape, labels or dots for marking items. Office supply stores carry adhesive, colored dots that work perfectly for this.
• a disposable plastic or paper cup
• epsom salts
• a refrigerator
• paper towels
• orange juice
• a freezer
• a spoon

You will also need some mineral specimens to work with. I suggest at least four or five from the following list.

• quartz (crystal, milky, rose, amethyst, citrine)
• calcite
• gypsum
• pyrite
• galena
• hematite
• mica (muscovite, biotite)
• feldspar (plagioclase, orthoclase)
• fluorite
• corundum

You will find suggestions for sources of mineral specimens on the "First you need some specimens" page.

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