Re: Exactly,What is diatamatious earth?

Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is found as deposits of fine, grayish material that may occur as a powder or as a porous, rigid clay. These deposits are mined and sold for two basic commercial applications: filtration and pest control. The DE used for filtration is heated to increase silica after being mined, and is used for a wide variety of applications from swimming pools to molecular biology. The unprocessed form of DE is used as an insecticide in grain storage and gardening, where microscopic spines on the tiny grains puncture and tear the soft tissues of arthropods, killing them if they eat or track through the material.

Diatomaceous Earth is, as the name suggests, earth composed chiefly of diatoms. Diatoms are single celled algae of the family Bacillariophyceae. They are identical to other algae in their abilities to photosynthesize and divide rapidly, however they differ from their kin in their ability to grow shells composed almost entirely of silica - essentially encasing themselves in glass. After they die, their shells sediment to the bottom of their habitat, such that a bloom of diatoms can produce a relatively thick layer of fine material composed entirely of diatoms' shells. Diatoms have existed since before there were animals or plants, and millions of years of diatoms can produce quite of lot of sediment. The DE used today is from the layers of compacted clay left after seabeds have become land and their silty bottoms turned to earth.