Plaster of Paris from Gypsum

Gypsum is calcium sulfate with water locked in its crystals (CaSO4·2H2O). Heated to about 120–180 °C it gives up three quarters of that water as steam and becomes the hemihydrate, plaster of Paris. Mixed with water again it takes the water back and sets hard, starting about 10 minutes after mixing, warming as it sets and expanding slightly. The name comes from the big gypsum deposit at Montmartre in Paris.