Chalk and Limestone for Dummies - The Freelance Files MMCLXXII

Our founder spent several years working in research and development, where he learned about the difference between jobs. In those days, as the joke would have it; a scientist was someone who knew everything about something, a technician was someone who knew something about everything, and a secretary¹ was someone who knew everything about the scientists and technicians. We cannot, however, figure out where Madhu, frequent contributor to DifferenceBetween.com,² fits into that division. That's because she seems to think she knows everything about everything. Well, we're here to tell you that Madhu does not know the "Difference Between Limestone and Chalk"!

According to Madhu, the chief difference is as follows:

"The key difference between limestone and chalk is that the limestone contains both minerals, calcite, and aragonite whereas chalk is a form of limestone which contains calcite."

To be honest, we have no idea where the "graduate in Biological Sciences ([with] Honours)" came up with that rather bizarre notion. Based on later statements, it's pretty obvious she didn't understand that calcite and aragonite are polymorphs of the same mineral; i.e., both are calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), or that aragonite is unstable at surface temperature and pressure and converts to calcite.

Be that as it may, it's fairly obvious that this self-appointed polymath didn't actually know the difference between the two and harvested – rather badly, in fact – a bunch of factoids to pad out her article. Here's a sampling of her bogosity:

• "Moreover, chalk has a common type of embedded nodules (or as bands) named Flint."  – Say what? And since when is chalk the only limestone variety to contain flint nodules?
• "...the most common application is the manufacture of blackboard chalk." – Sorry, Madhu, modern chalk is typically man-made.
• "Moreover, we can use chalk to fit the woodworking joints." – All we can say is, "WTF"?

Such is the quality of information as collected by ignorant freelancers who do little more than reword (and sometimes only copy) material they've found elsewhere. This is the sort of "knowledge transfer" that resulted in the creation of the Antisocial Network and its signature award, the Dumbass of the Day. This is Madhu's first nomination... it probably won't be her last.

¹ Whatever a "secretary" is...
² As of this writing, Madhu has contributed almost 2000 entries to the site in question!

SI - GEOLOGY