The stone that burns

"I smell brimstone ! The Devil must be near !"

Long ago, that's what someone might have said if they smelled sulfur burning. Sulfur was called brimstone, which means "the stone that burns". Because it burned, and came from deep inside the earth, people once thought it had something to do with the Devil.

Sulfur is one of the most common of all minerals. It is often found aboveground, near volcanoes that have thrown it out while erupting. But it is usually found deep underground, mixed with rock. Sulfur looks like little chunks of bright, yellow glass. It burns with a blue flame and give off a smell like rotten eggs.

Hundreds of years ago, people discovered how to make gunpowder by mixing sulfur with charcoal and another mineral called saltpeter. As time went on sulfur became used for more and more things. Today, it is used to make medicines, tires, and many other things people use every day.