Here is a shocking fact; you will encounter something made of granite or a rock itself at least once a day. Where is all the granite coming from? Today we have discounted granite because of the numerous technological advances since its discovery. Speaking of discovery, what is granite exactly and why do we use it?
In layman’s terms, it is formed from solidified minerals from lava or magma. For those of us that remember our middle school science classes, it is an igneous rock. The fusion of minerals is what gives granite its unique look and feel. Digging deeper into the origins and birth process we find out why we have discount granite. It is naturally found about a mile below the earth’s crust. Imagine digging a quarry down that far manually with shovels. Even with the invention of dynamite, it still was a daunting task. With all of our new tools, it has become easier to access the dikes of granite structures, which is also known as aplites. Granite, like many igneous rocks, is formed from a cluster of crystals. This happens from a slow cooling process from lava or magma. When the minerals are cooling, they begin to rearrange their atoms to form crystalline structures. If this process is rushed and the atoms are not aloud to arrange we get volcanic glass. Wrapping your mind around all the facts about granite makes you appreciate the rock for what it really is worth.
Now that we learned about the composition and origins of granite, why use it? In order to discount granite it has to have some type of demand for it. Well there is more then the eye can see when it comes to granite. Since its beauty is second to none to its physical attributes, one main quality that engineers and architects like is granite is not effected by deterioration and maintenance on the structure is not needed. Granite for building purposes is generally classified under two types, building granite and masonry granite. Building granite is used for its exterior look. This would be the tiles used for exteriors of buildings, floors, and other building features. Masonry granite is used for the building process. The granite is cut into blocks and fitted into the structure.
In addition to being an excellent building material granite also helps compose one other important part of the earth, the crust. Which means that you will encounter granite every single day of your life. Granite helps make the world go round, and build it to!
