More than 4,000 rocks and minerals are on the earth.  How do they effect our daily lives?  Are they important to us?  Do we really need all that hard stuff lying around?  Often they are easily detected.  At other times they're invisible to the naked eye as they are contained within things we use every day of our lives.  Specific properties or characteristics of an entity assist us in identifying it.  We know a specimen with four legs, two ears, a wagging tail and a bark to be a dog.  Often we wish to make these our pets.  Pets enhance our lives in many ways.  Do rocks and minerals?  Rocks and minerals can be identified by analyzing specific properties or characteristics.  Once we have identified them we can also learn what uses people have for them.  Have you ever thought about having a Pet Rock?  How about a Pet Mineral?