Igneous Rock Simple Definition
Deep, deep under your feet, the planet is crazy hot—hot enough to melt solid rock into a liquid goo called magma. When that magma pushes up toward the surface, it starts to cool. And when it cools, it turns into solid stone.
If that magma stays underground and cools slowly, you get rocks with big, chunky crystals you can actually see—like granite. Ever seen a kitchen countertop with speckles? That’s granite, and it’s basically a slow-cooked underground cake.
But if the magma bursts out of a volcano (we call that lava then), it cools super fast in the open air. That gives you smooth, glass-like rocks without visible crystals—like obsidian. It’s so sharp that ancient people used it to make knives and arrowheads. How cool is that?