Clay
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Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals. Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impurities, such as
Boulder clay cliff south of Withernsea, England
A 23,500 times magnified electron micrograph of smectite clay
Italian and African-American clay miners in mine shaft, 1910
Clay layers in a construction site in Auckland, New Zealand. Dry clay is normally much more stable than sand in excavations.
Ceramic
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A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature
Clay
…or brownish colour from small amounts of iron oxide. Clays develop plasticity when wet but can be hardened through firing. Clay is the longest-known ceramic raw material. Prehistoric humans discovered the useful properties of clay and used it for making pottery. Some of the earliest pottery shards have been…
Silicon nitride rocket thruster. Left: Mounted in test stand. Right: Being tested with H2/O2 propellants.
Earliest known ceramics are the Gravettian figurines that date to 29,000–25,000 BC.
Corded-Ware culture pottery from 2500 BC
Cutting disks made of silicon carbide