Carbonate rock

Imagine you are playing with tiny rocks and sand on a beach. Some of those rocks might be special because they are made of something called carbonate. This means they are made up of a type of substance called a “mineral” that has a lot of carbon and oxygen molecules in it.

When you look at these rocks up close, you might see that they are made up of lots of tiny pieces of shells, corals, or other sea creatures that lived a long time ago. Over a very, very long time, these tiny pieces piled up on top of each other to form big rocks.

Now, if you were to put some vinegar on these carbonate rocks, you would notice something really interesting happen. The vinegar would start to react with the carbonate and make bubbles of a gas called carbon dioxide. This is because the carbonate in the rock can easily react with acids like vinegar and break down into carbon dioxide.

Scientists really like studying carbonate rock because it tells them a lot about the Earth’s history. They can look at the layers of the rock to learn about what kind of sea creatures lived in the area long ago, and how the Earth's climate was changing. Pretty cool, huh?