Wondercat: What Good Are Rocks? (1989)

[Music] [Music] was hey look at this rock wow let me see are you all right yes but I wonder I wonder what do you wonder wondercat I wonder what good are rocks what good are rocks well if you're curious enough you can find out here are some people who seem to think rocks are good for something they call themselves Rock hounds Rock hounds hounds are dogs that's right hounds are hunting dogs actually but a rock hound isn't a dog a rock hound is anyone who enjoys hunting for rocks and enjoys collecting them and finding out more about them but why would anyone want to do that what's so special about a rock look at that one it's just a rock what's so special well those colors are sort of pretty and it's got a lot of sparkling stuff in it it is sort of different well not for around here you see we're in the mountains I know that you can find a lot of unusual rocks in the mountains that's because the mountains themselves are mostly made of rock there are lots of places here where you can see the bare rock sticking out out I guess pieces of rock must break off of those places that's right they do what kind of rocks are the rock hounds finding we can watch them I don't think they'll mind these rocks are all the same color they have sharp edges and points they must have broken off of that Rocky part of the mountain it has the same color but these rocks are a different color they must have come from a different part part of the mountain that's right there are many different kinds of rocks and mountains mountains are good hunting grounds for rock hounds there must be rocks out in fields too that's where those Rock hounds are that's right mountains aren't the only places where you'll find rocks let's see what they're finding this rock has lots of colors in it and this one looks like it's made of lots of small rocks and look at that one wow wow that's big it's called a boulder but those are just tiny Pebbles and there must be rocks near rivers and streams and in them too those Rock hounds are sure finding a lot of [Applause] them these rocks are smooth the running water must make them like that yes in a way it does the water carries sand and Pebbles that bump into the rocks and break off off little pieces of them that helps to make them smooth looks like they're smooth out of the water too maybe the stream gets higher and runs over them too sometimes probably it does wow rocks are in a lot of places on the ground aren't they yes they are but on the ground isn't the only place rocks are many are under the ground they are yes now the rock hounds are near a place where people dug under the ground for rocks see that old building up on the hill yes I see it that was part of an old [Music] mine and this is the entrance to that mine many years ago people dug a deep hole into the hill because they were looking for rocks underground that had gold in them the miners got all the gold they could out of this mine what's left are the Rocks the miners had to take out in order to find the rocks with the gold in them these rocks might be interesting to look at well the rock hounds want to look at them is it safe to go there yes but only if there's a grown-up with them wow all these rocks came from under the ground I used to think that all rocks were pretty much alike but they sure aren't they have different colors and some have things in them that sparkle is that that gold it could be it's shiny but you can't be sure just by looking at it other things in rocks besides gold can make them shine or Sparkle gold is just one of the things we call minerals minerals yes minerals all rocks are made of minerals and rocks are different when they're made up of different minerals what you can be sure of is that if a rock is all one color it is probably made up of just one mineral that must mean that if a rock has more than one color in it it's probably made of more than one mineral good thinking here's an interesting Rock if you look at it through your magnifying glass what do you see well I can see little bits of rock that have different colors those colored bits are the different minerals in the Rock the different minerals in rocks make a difference in how we use them sometimes people take just one kind of mineral out of rocks and use that like gold that's right and sometimes we use the Rocks themselves we use some rocks for building this is called Granite it's very hard it will last a long time here's another rock we build with it's called Marble Marble like Granite is a kind of rock artists use for sculptures both kinds of rocks are taken out of the the ground in very large pieces you'll find these and other kinds of rocks in smaller pieces in Rock Gardens what are those Rock hounds going to do with their rocks add them to their collections Rock hounds try to collect all kinds of different rocks these Rock hounds belong to a rock collecting Club each one of them has a nice collection of rocks could I collect some rocks too of course go [Music] ahead look at my collection I thought it would look better if I put rocks that looked alike near each other I put these rocks together because they have the same colors in them in this rock the minerals that make the colors are mixed up all over the rock and and in this one the minerals are in lines good observation rocks can have the same minerals in them but if they have different amounts of those minerals or if the minerals are arranged in different ways the rocks will look different and all of these rocks have just one color in them so I guess each one must be made of one kind of mineral and yet they're different in other ways this one is rough and this one looks soft and this one is hard and shiny could that mean that even though they're the same color they're made of different minerals good thinking you can't always tell from the colors if rocks are made of the same minerals or even if this is really gold in this rock but it might be that's fun to think about rocks are different in so many ways now I can understand why Rock hounds collect them and rock hounds can do all sorts of things with the Rocks they collect they can what sort of things well let's follow these Rock hounds back to where they have their Club headquarters and you'll see this is a gem and rock shop the man who owns it sells all kinds of [Music] rocks the rock hounds meet in the workshop at the back of the store that's where they do the things with the Rocks I told you about the man who owns a shop works with rocks here too and helps the rock hounds learn about rocks and what they can do with them it looks like he's smoothing that rock it's getting shiny that's called polishing a rock polishing a rock can make its color stand out it's a lot prettier now that doesn't look like a very special rock wow cutting that rough outside off let the beautiful inside show through and polishing it will make it even more beautiful let's break the top off this rock oh what's that inside the rock these are called crystals crystals are big bits of minerals the minerals in almost all rocks are crystals like this but often they're so small you can hardly see them and sometimes they're big and easy to see mineral crystals like these are called Gems or precious stones they have names like Emerald Ruby and [Music] Sapphire well now I know what you can do with rocks besides just collecting them you can cut them and polish them and make them even more beautiful than they were to start with and there's something you can do with certain beautiful rocks after they've been cut and Polished I can see what that is you can use rocks to make jewelry I wish I knew what the names of all these different kinds of rocks are are well you can look up their names in a book of rocks if you're interested but I'm going to tell you the name of one special rock this rock is called a cat's eye a cat's eye I can see why it's really beautiful and now I know what good rocks are they're good for a lot of things there are so many different kinds of rocks rocks are really fun to look at and collect I wonder what do you wonder wondercat can a cat get to be a rockhound I think you're one [Music] already [Music] la