Minerals

• Minerals


  Substances we use in our daily life; in kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.
• Rocks


  • They could be as big as a mountain or as small to fit in your pocket
  • They are made up of smaller parts called minerals
• The Earth has thousands of minerals, but only a hundred are common
• Minerals

  • They are Natural - found in nature and not made by human
  • They are Crystalline - have a regular crystal shape or pattern
  • They are Inorganic - not a plant, not a living organism, part of the Earth and as old as it
• Both diamond and graphite are made entirely out of carbon
• The elements that make up a mineral are always in a fixed, systematic, and repeating structure
• This helps to cause the rigid solid structure of minerals. Diamond is included
• Mohs Hardness Scale


  Named for its creator, the German geologist and mineralogist Friedrich Mohs
• Talc


  • Moh's Hardness Scale: 1
  • Naturally occurring mineral, mined from the earth, composed of magnesium, silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen
  • Used as baby powder, thickening agent, lubricant, ingredient in ceramics, paints, and roofing material
• Gypsum


  • Moh's Hardness Scale: 2
  • Soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate
  • Used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, and drywall
• Calcite


  • Moh's Hardness Scale: 3
  • One of the most common minerals, occurs in a great variety of shapes and colors
  • Used as a construction material (in the form of limestone and marble), pigment, agricultural soil treatment, pharmaceutical, acid neutralizer in the chemical industry and more
  • Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite
• Fluorite


  • Moh's Hardness Scale: 4
  • Mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF₂
  • Used as flux in steel manufacture, opalescent glass, enamels for cooking utensils, hydrofluoric acid, high-performance telescopes, and camera lens
• Apatite


  • Moh's Hardness Scale: 5
  • Most common phosphate mineral
  • Primary use is as a source of phosphate in the manufacture of fertilizer and in other industrial uses
  • Occasionally used as a gemstone
  • Best used in earrings and a necklace because, with its Mohs rating of 5--comparable to the hardness of teeth--it can be easily scratched
• Orthoclase


  • Moh's Hardness Scale: 6
  • Feldspar mineral and one of the most abundant rock-forming minerals of the continental crust
  • Raw material used in the production of glass, ceramic tile, porcelain, dinnerware, bathroom fixtures, and other ceramics
  • Not an especially durable gemstone, will develop abrasions if used in most types of jewelry, and it can easily cleave upon impact, more of a "collectors gem" than a gem for use in jewelry
  • Feldspar is the name of a large organization of rock-forming silicate minerals that make up over 50% of Earth's crust
• Quartz


  • Moh's Hardness Scale: 7
  • Hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide)
  • Most abundant mineral in Earth's crust and is resistant to both chemical and physical weathering
  • Hardness of seven on the Mohs Scale which makes it very durable
  • Luster, color, and diaphaneity make it useful as a gemstone and also in the making of glass
  • Diaphaneity (transparency) is the degree to which light is transmitted through a mineral
• Topaz

  • Moh's Hardness Scale: 8
  • Silicate mineral of aluminum and fluorine
  • Used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments
  • Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can make it pale blue or golden brown to yellow orange
• Corundum


  • Moh's Hardness Scale: 9
  • Rock-forming mineral found in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks
  • Widely known for its extreme hardness and for the fact that it is sometimes found as beautiful transparent crystals in many different colors
  • Extreme hardness makes corundum a perfect material for cutting gemstones
• Most people are familiar with corundum; however, very few people know it by its mineral name – instead, they know it by the names, "ruby" and "sapphire."
• Diamond


  • Moh's Hardness Scale: 10
  • Rare, naturally occurring mineral composed entirely of carbon
  • Each carbon atom in a diamond is surrounded by four other carbon atoms and connected to each of them by strong covalent bonds - the strongest type of chemical bond
  • Hardest known natural substance
  • Has special optical properties such as a high index of refraction, high dispersion, and an adamantine luster, which help make diamond the world's most popular gemstone
• 5 Characteristics/Properties that all Minerals must have

  • Naturally occurring
  • Solid
  • Inorganic
  • Crystalline structure
  • The same chemical composition