Rock video

did you try to scratch anything or do the vinegar test yet?

The video isnt a good quality your still pics were better if you could have taken the shots with an oblique, rather than strait on lighting. e look for something called CLEAVAGE which helps identify a mineral from how it breks (some minerals cleave into squares, some into clam shell shaped faces, nd others in long shreddy surfaces). These are all diagnostics. If youre going to become a rockhound itd be good to learn a couple of these things.

PS , as I said before, the fossil is a belemnite or a crinoid stem. Id need a closer look to distinguish em

Thank you. I am very green, but willing to learn. How long for viniger bath to judge?

Is apple cider 5% acidity vinegar acceptable?

if its a carbonate rock, you should see it begin to develop bubbls on the rock surface almot immediately.
First check the hardness. Find a reference to MOH's hardness scale nd then, using a piece of glass , try to scratch it with your samples. Then find som pieces of material that is progressively softer (if you cant find a feldspr, you can use a acrylic plastic for a hrdness of 3-4)
Then , get a mineral book (Pwterson field guides are good for your first reference) and compare the hardness with the white rocks you have.
Also, see the "Cleavage" (this is how the mineral breaks, with strait lines or flat surfaces or random concave breaks (conhoidal fractures).

All these are indicative of the mineral type.
A white rock, usually i a feldspar, quartz, or gypsum, or calcite.
The very clear ones are probably some kind of quartz (Id try to find where the source is because there may be deposits of crystals.

apple cider vinegar .yeh, Id use it for a salsd but it will serve ok.
When you bcome skilled at the id game, you can start carrying a small droppwr bottlw of a mixture of hydrohloric acid in water. It still i the best diagnostic.
But you have to know that its a bit dangerous and can induce some nasty acid burns.
I usually teach kids and newbies with vinegar or film developing aetic acid dissolved half ad half with tap water.

vinegar did not fizz. Put stones in a cup of vinegar, and did eye drop test and watched with a magnifying glass. No fizz. What do I need to try and scratch?

Thank you for all your help

I am not very avid at rock hounding. I am getting there, though. My front yard is full of stones, and back yard has red clay with sandstone and fossils. here are some more pics and a video that show the belemnite? a little better. All my rocks in two jars came from my yard in Greeneville Tn.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7wyHm2lx61kZXFUR3RFem1vazg&usp=sharing