rock collection... totally clueless here?

Question

ok.. im like doing a collection of rocks for science fair.. and im totally clueless... umm could any one tell me the scientific names of Brown Chert, Pink quartz, the petoskey stone, granite, gypsam, gneiss, lime stone, and iron ore.... and like if they already are in scientific name ish form could you tell me the common one? and if you know any good stuff bout them i would be most greatfull.. sooo thx all!

Answer 1

Honestly those are the names... Rocks do not have scientific terms nor Lehman terms, they are just names.
I would suggest calling Pink Quartz Rose Quartz, which is a mineral not a rock.
Chert is a poly morph of quartz.
Gneiss is a metamorphic rock.
Granite is an plutonic igneous rock.
Gypsum is a hydrous evaporate mineral.
limestone is a sedimentary rock.
iron ore is not a rock or mineral... iron ore is when a rock has a high concentration of iron, which makes it an ore... E-mail me a picture and maybe i can identify the rock for you.
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Answer 2

By the specimens you have, it sounds like you are in Michigan !!!! The iron ore you ask of is most likely hematite, an important iron bearing mineral.
The petosky stone is fossilized coral (hexagonria from the Devonian period) (check the hex spelling there) for the science fair you should include the chemical structure of the minerals such as SiO2 for the quartz, and Fe2O3 for the hematite, CaSO4·2H2O for the gypsum.
These can be found in any good rocks and minerals ID guide book found in your local library. Also tell if its a igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary rock. How the were formed such as depositional environment or morphology, igneous setting, etc..
Include as much info as you can such as hardness, crystal structure, cleavage fracture. etc. all these are really simple to learn from the a rock and mineral ID book and p.s. screw Ohio state!!!!

Answer 3

The field guide for Rocks and Mineral of North America is a very good resource for this topic!