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MINERALS • A mineral is a naturally occurring, pure chemical substance. • It is usually solid, inorganic (not from a living thing) and has a crystal structure. Soil, Rocks & Minerals What is a mineral? 2 © Stephanie Elkowitz • Minerals are important to life on Earth: • Minerals make up rocks and the solid Earth on which we live. • Minerals are a source of nutrients for plants and animals. • Humans extract minerals from Earth and use them to make many different materials, such as concrete, plaster, glass and even jewelry. Diamond Soil, Rocks & Minerals Talc Halite 3 Galena © Stephanie Elkowitz • There are five important characteristics of a mineral: 1. Natural 2. Solid 3. Inorganic 4. Specific chemical structure 5. Crystalline structure • In order to be considered a mineral, a substance must have all of these characteristics. Soil, Rocks & Minerals 4 © Stephanie Elkowitz 1. Minerals are naturally occurring. • Minerals must be formed by natural, geologic processes. They cannot be made by people. 2. Minerals are solid. • Minerals are solid within Earth’s normal temperature range. Diamond 3. Minerals are inorganic. • Minerals are not made by organisms. For example, wood is made by plants and pearls are made by oysters. For this reason, wood and pearls are NOT inorganic - they are organic substances. Soil, Rocks & Minerals 5 Cubic zirconia (man-made diamond) NOT a mineral © Stephanie Elkowitz 4. Minerals have a specific and fixed chemical makeup. • Minerals have a definite chemical composition. • Different minerals have different chemical compositions. The same minerals have the same chemical composition. 5. Minerals have an orderly crystalline structure. • Minerals have a crystalline structure. This means that the atoms that make up a mineral are arranged in a systematic and repeating pattern. This gives it a crystalline structure. Soil, Rocks & Minerals 6 © Stephanie Elkowitz