Whether you know it or not, you're surrounded by it everyday. Named Gypsos by the ancient Greeks, gypsum is known by many other names, including alabaster, plaster of Paris and a form of fertilizer called land plaster. Man has used the mineral, left by ancient inland seas as they dried, for thousands of years in an unbelievable array of applications. It's used in toothpaste, blackboard chalk, lipstick, canned vegetables, plaster molds and bathroom fixtures.
Dentists use a gypsum dental plaster to cast bridges.
Doctors splint broken bones with gauze impregnated with orthopedic plaster. But the most recognized use of gypsum is for the wallboard found in most homes.