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.
Difference between sheet rock and dry wall.
However due to its tremendous popularity people mislabel all sorts of drywall as sheetrock.
Though the builders know the difference is in the trademark drywall is sheetrock far the common man as the trademark has been well established.
Gypsum powder makes up drywall.
It is finely ground and then pressed in between two thick pieces of paper.
Think of it like this.
The major difference between sheetrock and drywall is that only the us gypsum company can call their product sheetrock no one else.
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.
This creates a board or a thin sheet.
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.