Where do marble countertops come from?

Some projects are just so big that there is a reason that they just aren't done. Not a kitchen remodel though. 😁 What we are learning is that not everyone has to have a different science project. Everyone can work on the same one, at the same time. Using Google maps to have everyone contribute can produce a novel result or picture.

Take the simple substance, calcium carbonate. We can quickly look up in Wikipedia (Calcium_carbonate) and find out that the formula is CaCO3. Where does it come from? There are many geological sources, even in the US and they are typically marble quarries. In 2016 there were 276 quarries in 34 states and there is another Wikipedia page that has a list. 

It would be interesting to:

1. Guess what the distribution would be in the US. Would it be equal? Concentrated in the plains, or on the coasts?
2. Find out what it really looked like.

With only four classes of 25 students, each student would only need to find between two and three locations. They could find the location on a map. place an icon and add a description.

In just one day we could have a whole map of active and historical mines.

What might an old mine be used for? Well The Marengo Warehouse is an old underground quarry and is now is a giant subterranean storage facility. Since it maintains a consistent cool temperature all year around it is used to store massive amounts of military MRE rations.

The thing is we won't know that this project is even worth pursuing until we are done. If not, then we can learn something from our mistakes, and other things along the way.

For a start I have one quarry marked in Bowie, Arizona. So there is one down.

Someday we can figure out where the marble for countertops come from, and it might even make it easier to remember the chemical formula.