Saturday, November 27, 2021

Have you ever taken a close look at a pencil? The soft, dark core is a mineral called graphite.  It’s made entirely of carbon atoms, just like another very popular (and expensive) mineral — diamond!  How can two minerals be made of the same atoms, yet look so different?  We’ll discover the secret (and learn more about the fascinating world of mineralogy) as we build atomic models of both.

Preparation: A bag of marshmallows or candy gummies, 30 toothpicks

Expert: Katherine Dunnell is a mineralogy technician in the Department of Natural History at the Royal Ontario Museum.