Transcript WHAT IS A MINERAL?

•Naturally occurring
•Inorganic
•Solid
•Crystalline structure
•Specific physical and chemical properties
Minerals make up rocks!
Olivine mineral
green Olivine mineral
in igneous basalt rock
Amethyst
Quartz
Minerals are made up of atoms of elements
There are over 2000 different types
of minerals on Earth – most minerals are
“silicate” minerals (made up of silicon & oxygen)
Carbonates, Sulfides, and Iron Oxides
The silica tetrahedron, consists of one silicon atom surrounded by four
oxygen atoms at the corners of the tetrahedron atomic structure. The silica
tetrahedron is a basic building unit for a major group of minerals called the
silicates. Silicate minerals are the most common minerals found on Earth.
Four representations of the
silica tetrahedron structure
each showing how four oxygen
atoms bond to a single silicon
atom forming a pyramid type
structure.
2 main ways that new crystals of minerals grow:
•Some minerals form when molten rock below a
planet’s surface (magma) or above (lava), cools
and atoms bond together into mineral crystals
•Other minerals form when water that has
atoms of dissolved elements in it, evaporates
away -- the atoms get very close to each other
and bond together to form solid minerals
•Luster (metallic or non-metallic)
•Hardness (hard or soft)
•Cleavage / Fracture (way the mineral splits)
•Streak (powder color of mineral)
3 crystals of quartz mineral show how the same type
of mineral can have different colors!