gypsum

«gypsum» in Mova's school dictionary: a soft white or grey mineral found in rocks, used to make… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (gypsum, uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

Gypsum is a soft white or grey mineral found in rocks, used to make plaster, chalk-like boards for walls, and some fertilisers. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons gypsum is a soft mineral: on the Mohs hardness scale it is 2, so you can scratch it with your fingernail. It forms when salty water dries up. Plasterboard (drywall) and plaster of Paris for casts are made from gypsum. White Sands in New Mexico, USA, is made of gypsum sand.

examples

• Gypsum is soft enough to scratch with a fingernail. tree →
• Plaster of Paris is made by heating gypsum. tree →
• The walls of our house are made of gypsum plasterboard. tree →
• White Sands in New Mexico has dunes of gypsum. tree →
• Farmers sometimes spread gypsum on clay soil. tree →
• We tested the hardness of gypsum and quartz in science. tree →

note

Uncountable: no «a», no plural. Say «JIP-sum». Do not confuse gypsum with chalk, which is a different mineral (calcium carbonate), although both are soft and white.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «gypsum» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.