Many subdisciplines in Earth science have developed standardize ternary plots for defining classifications of plotted data sets. Additionally, geochemical data are commonly plotted on ternary diagrams to examine relative concentrations with respect to three components. Many Earth science data sets can be simplified down to three components to create an easy way to classify or name minerals, rocks, and landforms. Earth scientists use these principles of relative abundances to examine data from natural systems You can get a feel for the relative abundances of chocolate, milk, and sugar in each confection. Where do your tastes lie on this ternary diagram? Do you like unsweetened chocolate that trends more toward the chocolate part of the triangle? Maybe you're a fan of chocolate milk, which is mostly chocolate and milk with a little bit of sugar? Don't like milk or chocolate? Pixie sticks (essentially pure sugar) might be for you. Let's think about a system with end-members chocolate, milk, and sugar like the image to the left. Reuse: This item is in the public domain and maybe reused freely without restriction. Provenance: Ryan Kerrigan, University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown
