Mighty Minerals are all around us Today you

Mighty Minerals are all around us

Today you will learn • What the characteristics of minerals are • How minerals are classified into groups • Which mineral group is most common Fascinating Fact The elements oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and sodium make up 99 percent of all minerals on Earth.

Just a box of rocks BACKGROUND: Scientists have identified over 2000 different minerals in the earth's crust. 95% of the earth's crust is composed of about a dozen different rock-forming minerals. The rocks composed of these minerals can be formed in three different ways. Scientists can learn many different things about a rock by observing and classifying it.

What is a mineral? All natural earth materials are made of minerals or a combination of minerals Minerals are the building blocks of rocks To be called a mineral it must have the following 5 characteristics:

Mineral characteristic #1 occurs naturally not artificial or manmade

Mineral characteristic #2 Solid not a liquid or a gas Platinum (It might take two billion tons of ore to produce one pound of platinum!)

Mineral characteristic #3 Definite chemical composition Some minerals like gold or silver are made of only one element. (A substance such as iron, oxygen, and gold which cannot be separated or broken down by ordinary chemical methods) Other minerals, like quartz and calcite, are combinations of two or more elements.

Mineral characteristic #4 atoms arranged in an orderly pattern Minerals are usually solid crystals. They have a number of flat surfaces in an orderly arrangement. For example, a crystal of quartz is always hexagonal because of the way the atoms of silicon and oxygen join together.

Mineral characteristic #5 Inorganic - not alive and never alive

SNIFE Solid Not Liquid or Gas or Plasma Naturally Occurring Not Human-Made Inorganic Not Alive - Never Was Fixed Composition Same Recipe, Everywhere, Every Time Element or Compound Not a Mixture