Every monument you've ever stood in front of was granite, or wanted to be. Here's the chemistry of why.

Interlocked, not stacked

Sedimentary rock is grains glued together — water gets in the joints and works them apart. Granite cooled from magma, so its crystals grew into each other, a three-dimensional jigsaw with no seams for the weather to open.

Hard, and therefore quiet

At Mohs 6–7, granite ignores rain, frost, and acid. Limestone dissolves, marble etches, slate splits — granite just sits there. It's why curbstones are granite, and why the pyramids' neighbours are granite where it mattered.