What is pyroxene?

Pyroxene is a type of rock that’s made up of tiny crystals, like the ones you might find in some kinds of candy or ice cream.

Imagine you have a bag of mixed candies, some are red, some are green, and they all look a little different. Now imagine those candies are stuck together so tightly that you can’t tell them apart at first glance. That’s kind of what pyroxene is like, it looks like one solid piece, but if you look really closely or use a special tool, you’ll see the tiny crystals inside.

Pyroxene is created when molten rock, like lava, cools down slowly underground. As it cools, the minerals inside it arrange themselves into neat little rows, just like how cookies line up in a cookie jar!

Sometimes you can find pyroxene in volcanoes or in rocks that have been pushed deep inside the Earth.

Pyroxene is strong and doesn’t break easily, which makes it perfect for being part of rocks. You might even find it in some types of meteorites, meaning it’s traveled through space before ending up on our planet!