Gypsum powder makes up drywall.
Difference between sheet rock and dry wall.
Though the builders know the difference is in the trademark drywall is sheetrock far the common man as the trademark has been well established.
All sheetrock can be called drywall but not all drywall can be called sheetrock.
Drywall is made of a few different materials but most commonly it is made from gypsum which is a sturdy yet lightweight rock that provides versatile uses when ground up into a powder.
Think of it like this.
To refer back to the kleenex versus generic brand analogy sheetrock is a name brand much like kleenex and drywall is the same product just without a brand name.
Sheetrock is simply a company that provides customers with the opportunity to purchase drywall and drywall products but their products are the same as generic dry wall.
However due to its tremendous popularity people mislabel all sorts of drywall as sheetrock.
This creates a board or a thin sheet.
The difference is fairly simple as sheetrock is a name brand of drywall that is considered to be a reliable one that many contractors depend on trust in and use as opposed to more general types of drywall.