Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Reflection on Minerals

Hello, and welcome back to my blog that will open your eyes up with new opportunities and new knowledge. Today, we were learning about minerals and we watched a power point! Here are some things that you might find interesting.....

What is a mineral?

The exact definition is; A mineral is a naturally occurring solid that can form by inorganic processes and that has a crystal structure and a definite chemical composition. You can't really say it in any other way because those are the five things that a mineral must have if you want to classify it as a mineral!

What are the five things a mineral needs to have to be a mineral?:

  1. Solid - Minerals are always solid with definite volume and shape
  2. Naturally Occurring - Natural processes, can form when magma cools, from the remain of ancient plants, etc.
  3. Inorganic Processes - Every mineral must be able to from from material that were not part of a living thing.
  4. Fixed Chemical Composition - A mineral always contains certain elements in definite proportions.
  5. Crystal Structure - Particles of a mineral line up in a pattern that repeats over and over again. Crystals have flat sides that meet at sharp edges and corners.
Here is a table of what we thought minerals were....and then the correct ones..compare!


    Here are some examples of minerals -

    Gold:



















    Diamond:


















    Topaz:














    Quartz:

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