Are rocks a cruicial element to life?

Answer 1

Favourite answer

No. but I had to think about it.

See, things like phosphorus, iron, magnesium weather out of rock, and life needs those things.  Eventually those things flow down to ocean, where they may support life for years... but eventually you might find those things becoming bound up in precipitates.

However, some oceanic life could still be sustained by volcanic events which would also release the needed minerals and metals.

Answer 2

Rocks are not elements. They are sources of minerals, such as iron, magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus, which are elements that are essential for life. For example, we need iron to make red blood cells, and calcium for strong bones. We do not get these elements by eating rock, but by eating plants or animals that eat plants, and plants absorb these animals from soil. Soil is rock that has been worn down by weather and other forces into small particles. The smallest rock particles are called clay.  Without rock, there would be no soil, and without soil, we and other land animals won't have plants or animals to eat.

Answer 3

no, except as they form much of the earth and generate gravity.

Humans can live on a space station with artificial gravity from rotation, à la movie 2001, which has no rocks. 

Answer 4

Especially to a crackhead, rocks are life.

Answer 5

Well it makes up part of the ground we stand on...