Can anyone please tell me what the physical properties of sand, salt, paper and iron are?

Question

My friend needs to find this out for a homework assignment and says she needs 2-4 bits of information on each one. I would really appreciate it if someone could tell me so I can pass the info onto her.

Answer 1

Sand:
The most common constituent of sand, in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal settings, is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO2), usually in the form of quartz, which, because of its chemical inertness and considerable hardness, is resistant to weathering.
The composition of sand varies according to local rock sources and conditions. The bright white sands found in tropical and subtropical coastal settings are ground-up limestone.
Arkose is a sand or sandstone with considerable feldspar content which is derived from the weathering and erosion of a (usually nearby) granite.
Some locations have sands that contain magnetite, chlorite, glauconite or gypsum. Sands rich in magnetite are dark to black in color, as are sands derived from volcanic basalts.
The chlorite-glauconite bearing sands are typically green in color, as are sands derived from basalts (lavas) with a high olivine content.
The gypsum sand dunes of the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico are famous for their bright, white color. Sand deposits in some areas contain garnets and other resistant minerals, including some small gemstones.
More to be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand#Constituents_of_sand

Salt:
A salt, in chemistry, is any ionic compound composed of cations (positively charged ions) and anions (negative ions) so that the product is neutral (without a net charge). These component ions can be inorganic such as chloride (Cl−), as well as organic such as acetate (CH3COO−) and monoatomic ions such as fluoride (F−), as well as polyatomic ions such as sulfate (SO42−). Salts are formed when acids and bases react together.
More information at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt

Paper:
Paper is a commodity of thin material produced by the amalgamation of fibers, typically vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, which are subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding. While the fibres used are usually natural in origin, a wide variety of synthetic fibers, such as polypropylene and polyethylene, may be incorporated into paper as a way of imparting desirable physical properties. The most common source of these kinds of fibers is wood pulp from pulpwood trees, largely softwoods and hardwoods, such as spruce and aspen respectively. Other vegetable fiber materials including those of cotton, hemp, linen, and rice may be used.
Mor information at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper

Iron Ore:
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in colour from dark grey to rusty red. The iron itself is usually found in the form of magnetite (Fe3O4), hematite (Fe2O3), limonite or siderite. Hematite is also known as "natural ore".
The name refers to the early years of mining, when certain hematite ores contained 66% iron and could be fed directly into steel-making blast furnaces. Iron ore is the raw material used to make pig iron, which is one of the main raw materials to make steel. 98% of the mined iron ore is used to make steel.
Iron ore cargoes may affect magnetic compasses.
More information at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron-ore

Answer 2

I can't believe that someone is so unfamiliar with those things they could not ad-lib a couple of phrases for each. Within a couple of minutes you could whip out those answers yourself since you have probably seen them also.