ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Palygorskite

Palygorskite is a tiny thing that looks like a long skinny stick. It's made up of a bunch of little pieces that are all stuck together. Imagine if you took a bunch of tiny building blocks and glued them together to make a long stick.

It's really special because it can do a lot of things all by itself. For example, it can suck up water and hold onto it really well. This makes it really good at helping plants grow because it can keep the soil around them moist.

Palygorskite also likes to stick to other things. Imagine if you had a sticker and you could stick it to your shirt, your toy, and even a wall! That's kind of like what palygorskite does. It likes to stick to things in soil, water, and even other minerals.

People have even found palygorskite in clay that is used to make things like pottery and bricks. It helps make the clay sticky so it can be shaped and molded into different things.

Overall, palygorskite is just a tiny stick made up of little blocks that likes to stick to other things and can help plants grow and make clay sticky.
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