Chalk It is formed in the sea by sub-microscopic plankton, which fall to the sea floor and are then consolidated and compressed during diagenesis into chalk rock. Most people first encounter the word "chalk" in school where it refers to blackboard chalk, which was originally made of mineral chalk, since it readily crumbles and leaves particles that stick loosely to rough surfaces, allowing it to make writing that can be readily erased. Blackboard chalk manufacture now may utilize mineral chalk, other mineral sources of calcium carbonate, or the mineral gypsum (calcium sulfate). While gypsum-based blackboard chalk is the lowest cost to
Chalk of war, chalk — now usually magnesium carbonate — is applied to the hands and feet to remove perspiration and reduce slipping. Chalk may also be used as a house construction material instead of brick or wattle and daub: quarried chalk was cut into blocks and used as ashlar, or loose chalk was rammed into blocks and laid in mortar. There are still houses standing which have been constructed using chalk as the main building material. Most are pre-Victorian though a few are more recent. Chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock, a form of limestone composed