Robert Kusiak, age 12, of St, Catharines, Ontario for his question:

Is it true that asbestos will not burn?

Yes, it is quite true that asbestos will not burn. In terrific heat, however, it will break up and disintegrate, but it will never burst into flames. Though asbestos comes in thin fibers like threads of fine silk, it is actually a mineral like the rocks of the earth's crust. Several very different rocks can be broken into these fine threads and each of them may be known as asbestos.

The world's largest asbestos deposits are in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Here the mineral mined is chrysolite, a fibrous form of rather soft rock called serpentine.