1. Limestone
C1a 1.2
What are the uses of limestone?
 Pilkington Plc

2. Limestone is made of calcium carbonate
Limestone is made of calcium carbonate. The main source of this is living organisms - mainly marine organisms. So limestone is made from material that was once part of a living body. For this reason we often find fossils in limestone.
Want to see some large lumps of limestone? Look at the white cliffs of Dover - a few million tonnes of the stuff!

3. Uses of Limestone Buildings Making glass Improving soil fertility
Making concrete
And even the tourist trade…

4. Buildings
Limestone is relatively easy to carve and stands up well to wear. For this reason it is used in many buildings and for sculptures. The limestone is cut into blocks - you can often see these in large buildings in towns and cities.
Even some modern skyscrapers made of steel have a thin limestone façade. Many people think that the limestone looks better than some modern building materials.

5. Making concrete
When powdered limestone is heated with powdered clay it changes into cement. When cement is mixed with water it sets hard.
Cement is used with sand to make mortar which sticks bricks together. If you add small pebbles you can end up with concrete - a very strong material used for buildings, motorway bridges and even roads in some countries where the sun is so hot tarmac would melt!

6. Making glass
When powdered limestone is heated it is converted to calcium oxide (quicklime).
Quicklime is used in glass manufacture - about 10% of a glass window or beer bottle is quicklime. Quicklime is also used to clean acid from industrial waste gases.
 Pilkington Plc

7. Improving soil fertility
Powdered limestone is sometimes added to soil to improve fertility. It helps to stop soil getting too acidic. This has been very important over the past few years when acid rain has done considerable damage to some upland areas.
 BLA

8. And even the tourist trade…
Limestone is dissolved by even quite weak acids. Carbon dioxide dissolved in rainwater can dissolve away limestone to produce beautiful caves. These attract tourists from all over the world.
However, as acid gases have increased because of pollution some beautiful limestone buildings have been damaged by acid rain.