Rocks: Rocks are the hard material found on earth crust with

one or more minerals or mineraloids .

Rocks are the parenting material for almost all the building
materials ,like cement,bricks,aggregates,sand.
Chemical Classification:
According to this classification rocks are classified into three
Types.
a. Siliceous rocks: In these rocks, silica is predominates. The
rocks are hard; durable and not easily effected by weathering
agencies. Ex: Granite, Quartzite, etc.
b. Argillaceous Rocks: In these rocks, clay predominates. The
rocks may be dense and compact or may be soft. Ex: slates,
Laterites etc.
c. Calcareous rocks: In these rocks, calcium carbonate
predominates. The durability to these rocks will depend upon
the constituents present in surrounding atmosphere. Ex: Lime
Stone, marble etc.
Geological Classification:
According to this classification, the rocks are of the
following types.
a. Igneous rocks: Rocks that are formed by cooling and
crystallization of Magma (molten rocky material) are known
as igneous rocks.
Eg: Granite, Basalt and Dolerite etc.
b. Sedimentary rocks: these rocks are formed by the
deposition of weathered material of pre-existing rocks.
Examples: gravel, sandstone, limestone, gypsum, lignite etc.
c. Metamorphic rocks: These rocks are formed by the change
in character of the pre-existing rocks. Igneous as well as
sedimentary rocks are changed in character when they are
subject to great heat and pressure. Known as metamorphism.
Examples: Quartzite, Schist, Slate, Marble and Gneisses.

Qualities of a good building stone:

The following are the qualities or requirements of a good
building
stone.
1. Crushing strength: For a good building stone, the crushing
strength should be greater than l000kg per cm2.
2. Appearance: Good building stone should be a uniform
colour, and free from clay holes, spots of other colour bands
etc capable of preserving the colour for longtime.
3. Durability: Building stones should be capable to resist the
adverse effects of natural forces like wind, rain and heat. It
must be durable and should not deteriorate due to the
adverse effects of the above natural forces.

4. Hardness: Hardness of a material is defined as its

resistance to scratch by a pointed material.
Hardness is measured by mohr scale.
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is based on the ability of
one natural sample of mineral to scratch another mineral
visibly.

As per mohr hardness scale ten minerals of different hardness

are selected. Softest mineral is talc and hardest mineral is
diamond ,so talc is awarded with number 1 and diamond is
awarded with number 10 and other intermediate minerals
are awarded between 2 to 9 as per there hardness.
It can be understood by the following example. As flurite is
given number 4, it will be enough hard to scratch number
1,2,3 minerals. Similarly number 9 mineral can scratch
number 1 to 8 minerals, but number 9 cannot scratch 10
number.
Now suppose a mineral X is given to you and it is asked to
find mohr hardness number of the mineral X ?
For the test to be performed take mineral no 1(talc) and
scratch it on X. If talc is scratched means X is harder than talc
,means mohr hardness number of X is greater than 1.
Similarly scratch mineral X with mineral no 2 , if no 2 mineral
is scratched ,it means X is harder than 2.
Again scratch mineral X with mineral no 3 ,this time mineral
number 3 does not get scratched it means that X is less hard
than mineral no 3, and we can say that hardness of mineral X
lies between 2 and 3.

5. Resistance to fire: A good building stone be fire proof.

Sandstone, Argillaceous stone resists fire quite well
6. Specific gravity: For a good building stone the specific
gravity should be greater then 8.7 or so.
7. Texture: A good building stone should have compact fine
crystalline structure should be free from cavities, cracks or
patches of stuff or loose material.

8. Water absorption: For a good building stone, the

percentage absorption by weight after 24 hours should not
exceed 0.60.
10. Toughness Index: Impact test, the value of toughness less
than 13 Not tough, between 13 and 19 Moderate,
greater than 19- high
Cement
Cement can be defined as, any substance which acts as a
binding agent for materials . Artificial cement is obtained by
burning at very high temperature a mixture of calcareous and
argillaceous materials in correct proportion
argillaceous materials is material containing clay. The clay
content in such stones is about 20 to 40 percent and
calcareous material is material containing carbonates of lime.
These two types of product are Calcined to form clinker. A
small quantity of gypsum is added to clinker and it is then
pulverized into very fine powder is known as cement.