1 / 13

Mighty Minerals Mineral Characteristics

Mighty Minerals Mineral Characteristics . Minerals are all around us. Fascinating Fact. The elements oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and sodium make up 99 percent of all minerals on Earth. . Fascinating Fact. BACKGROUND :

hollie
Download Presentation

Mighty Minerals Mineral Characteristics

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Mighty Minerals Mineral Characteristics Minerals are all around us

  2. Fascinating Fact • The elements oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and sodium make up 99 percent of all minerals on Earth.

  3. Fascinating Fact 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.

  4. 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:

  5. Mineral characteristic #1 –Naturally Occurring Occurs naturally • not artificial or man-made • These are processes that occur on or inside Earth with no input from humans.

  6. Mineral characteristic #2 Solid • All solids have a definite volume and shape. • not a liquid or a gas Platinum (It might take two billion tons of ore to produce one pound of platinum!)

  7. Mineral Characteristic #3Definite chemical composition • Made of one or more elements. • Element • 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. • All the elements are listed on the periodic table. For example: Gold = Au or Lead = Pb) • Compound: • Other minerals are combinations of two or more elements which are chemically combined. • For Example • Quartz = SiO2 • Calcite = CaCO3 Image from http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/38xx/382x/3822_history-of-gold-4_04700300.jpg Image from http://periodictable.com/Samples/082.28/s12s.JPG Image from http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr/mingem/gemtp/smokyquartz/6xx-smoky-quartz6-rakhi.jpg Image from http://www.minerals.net/mineral/carbonat/calcite/images/9salmon.htm

  8. Mineral Characteristic #4 Crystalline solids • Atoms arranged in an orderly pattern (Crystals) • Crystalline means that atoms are arranged in a pattern that is repeated over and over again. • For example, graphite’s atoms are arranged in layers and halite's are arranged in cubes. • The crystal system a mineral has can help a geologist identify the mineral. • Brain pop

  9. There are six major crystal systems, which classify minerals according to their crystal structures.

  10. Crystals come from two places:

  11. Crystals from Magma • When magma cools slowly, the crystals that form are generally large enough to see with the unaided eye. • When magma cools rapidly, the crystals that form will be small.

  12. Crystals from solutions • Crystals also can form from minerals dissolved in water. • When water evaporates, minerals left behind come together to form crystals.

  13. Mineral characteristic #5 Inorganic • Not alive and never alive • This means that they aren’t made by life processes.

More Related