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819

Is snow a rock, a mineral, both, or neither?

Answer:

A mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic solid that has a definite chemical formula and an internal, crystalline structure. Snow is natural, not manmade. Snow is not a part of or produced by a living thing, so it is inorganic. Snow is a solid. (If you have ever been hit by a snowball, you know it is not a liquid, gas, or plasma.) Snow has a chemical formula, H2O. It also has a crystalline structure, which is why snowflakes have their intricate, six sided shape. Snow is a mineral.

A rock is a naturally occurring solid that forms large structures in the Earth. We have already seen that snow is natural and solid. Layers of snow are large structures, often covering hundreds of square miles. Snow is also a rock.

OK, what kind of rock is it? When it first falls, it is a sedimentary rock, deposited by wind and gravity. After sitting for several days, the snow flakes metamorphose into granular ice. At that point, it is a metamorphic rock. If the snow melts, and then refreezes into a sheet of ice, that ice is an igneous rock.

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