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    7 Minerals and Rocks

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    Minerals are the building blocks of rocks and have definite chemical compositions and crystalline structures. They can be identified based on their properties, which include crystal form, luster, color, hardness, cleavage, fracture, and specific gravity. The most common minerals are silicates like feldspar, quartz, and mica, which are made up of silicon and oxygen. Other major mineral groups include carbonates, sulfides, sulfates, native elements, and halides. Ores are rocks that contain useful metallic or nonmetallic minerals that can be mined for profit.

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    7 Minerals and Rocks

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    Minerals are the building blocks of rocks and have definite chemical compositions and crystalline structures. They can be identified based on their properties, which include crystal form, luster, color, hardness, cleavage, fracture, and specific gravity. The most common minerals are silicates like feldspar, quartz, and mica, which are made up of silicon and oxygen. Other major mineral groups include carbonates, sulfides, sulfates, native elements, and halides. Ores are rocks that contain useful metallic or nonmetallic minerals that can be mined for profit.

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    Minerals are the building blocks of rocks and have definite chemical compositions and crystalline structures. They can be identified based on their properties, which include crystal form, luster, color, hardness, cleavage, fracture, and specific gravity. The most common minerals are silicates like feldspar, quartz, and mica, which are made up of silicon and oxygen. Other major mineral groups include carbonates, sulfides, sulfates, native elements, and halides. Ores are rocks that contain useful metallic or nonmetallic minerals that can be mined for profit.

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    26 views6 pages

    7 Minerals and Rocks

    Uploaded by

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    Minerals are the building blocks of rocks and have definite chemical compositions and crystalline structures. They can be identified based on their properties, which include crystal form, luster, color, hardness, cleavage, fracture, and specific gravity. The most common minerals are silicates like feldspar, quartz, and mica, which are made up of silicon and oxygen. Other major mineral groups include carbonates, sulfides, sulfates, native elements, and halides. Ores are rocks that contain useful metallic or nonmetallic minerals that can be mined for profit.

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    MINERALS AND ROCKS

    Minerals: The Building Blocks of Rocks

    A mineral is a solid matter possessing a definite chemical structure that occur naturally
    but does not have life. It is commonly found in rocks. Some rocks are composed of two
    or more minerals. The building blocks of minerals which is made up of an atom is called
    element. Each atom has a nucleus containing protons and neutrons. Orbiting the
    nucleus of an atom are electrons. The number of protons in an atom's nucleus
    determines its atomic number and the name of the element.

    Considerations about Minerals:

     It occur naturally

     It is inorganic (never alive)

     Intenal structure is in orderly pattern

     It has a characterestic of a definite chemical composition

    The properties of minerals include the following traits which are used to identify mineral
    species. These traits include crystal form, luster, color, streak, hardness, cleavage, fracture, and
    specific gravity.

    Properties of a Mineral

     Crystal Form describes the growth pattern of the crystals of the mineral species
    ◦ It is largely determined by the environmental conditions under which a crystal develop

     Luster refers to the is the quantity and quality of light which is reflected from the
    surface of a mineral

    ◦ Metallic luster are minerals which are opaque and very reflective possessing a high
    absorptive index

    ◦ Non metallic luster are minerals described by vitreous (glassy e.g. quartz), pearly, silky,
    resinous, earthy (dull).

    ◦ Submetallic are minerals that has somewhat metallic in luster.

     Color is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans.


     Streak is the color which the mineral display when it has been in its powdered
    form. It is considered to be much reliable indication of color

     Hardness defines the level of difficulty which the smooth surface of the mineral can be scratched.

    ◦ This property is determined by rubbing the mineral against common objects like fingernails
    or penny

    ◦ Mohs scale refer to standard hardness Diamond – hardest, having 10 on scale, Talc – softest,
    having 1 on scale
     Cleavage is the splitting of crystals along the smooth plane

    ◦ The simplest type of cleavage is exhibited by micas

     Fracture takes place when a mineral splits in a direction possessing difficult indistinct cleavage

    ◦ Conchoidal fracture results in a series of smoothly curved concentric rings about the stressed
    point, generating a shell-like appearance
    ◦ Irregular fracture results in a rugged or rough surface.

     Specific Gravity refers to the ratio of the weight of a mineral to the weight of an equal of water
    Other useful properties of minerals are malleable, soapy or greasy and magnetite.

    Other useful characterestics used in identifying minerals are taste, smell, elasticity, malleability,
    feel, magnetism, double refraction, and chemical reaction to hydrochloric acid. The eight
    most abundant elements found in Earth's crust are oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium,
    sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Silicon and oxygen are the most abundant elements that
    when combine, they form the framework of most common mineral group called silicates. While the
    carbon and oxygen to form carbonates.

    The Mineral Groups

    1. The silicate minerals have the silicon-oxygen tetrahedron as their fundamental building block.

     Feldspar – the most abundant group

     Quartz – second most abundant mineral

     Muscovite

     Hornblende
    2. The nonsilicate minerals are without silicon namely :

     the carbonate (e.g., calcite which is useful in the foramation of stony coral),
     sulfides (e.g., galena , sphalerite, use as ore for zinc),
     sulfates (e.g., gypsum, anhydride use in plaster )
     native elements (e.g.,gold, diamond ,use in trade and jelwelry}
     halides (e.g., halite, use as common salt )

    The Ore refers to the type of rock that contains useful metallic minerals, like hematite
    (mined for iron) and galena (mined for lead), that can be mined for a profit, as well as some
    nonmetallic minerals, such as fluorite and sulfur.

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