Assignments:

  1. Read: Matter and Minerals
  2. Learn these minerals: Minerals Close Up USGS National Parks Service  <http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/rxmin/mineral.html>
  3. film Earth Revealed: movie. Courtesy of Anneberg Media, URL <http://www.learner.org/resources/series78.html>.  Requires Windows media Player.  Sign in and view #12 Minerals: The Materials of Earth.
  4. film OPTIONAL: For a review or introduction to Chemistry of to The World ov Chemistry. Courtesy of Anneberg Media, URL: <http://www.learner.org/resources/series61.html> Requires Windows media Player.  Sign in and view #5 A Matter of State, #6 The Atom, and #7 The Periodic Table, and # 8  Chemical bonds.
  5. Test your knowlege of th terms below by completing the Matter and Minerals Crossword puzzle.
wikiglobe

Terms: matter, atom, electron, proton, neutron, nucleaus, isotope, ion, anion, cation, valence, chemical bonds (covalent, ionic, metallic, van der Wals), mineral classes (native minerals, sulfates, sulfides, carbonate, oxides, silicate), ferromagnesium and non-ferromagnesium minerals, tetrahedron, tectosilicate, phyllosilicate,
Common minerals: quartz, graphite, feldspar, galena, mica, hematite, pyroxene, hornblende, olivine
physical properties: streak, cleavage, tenacity, hardness, fracture, color, luster

Matter and the Atom

Matter is any substance that has mass takes up space.   Solids, liquids, and gasses are all forms of matter. The smallest unit of matter that cannot be broken down by chemical means is the atom.  An atom is composed of three basic particles, neutrons (nc) and protons (+) that make of the central nucleus and electrons (-) that orbit about the nucleus at the speed of light.  Each atom is defined by the number of protons in its nucleus, this number is called the atomic number.  The atomic mass is the number of protons and neutrons an atom's nucleus.   Species of an atom having different atomic masses are called isotopes;  some are stable while others will radioactively decay into other elements.   Stable isotopes are used to interpret the history or rocks, migration patterns of animals, origin of ore deposits, global changes in the volume of ice sheets, and the movement of fluids. Radioactive isotopes are used to date rocks.

Elemental Concepts

Atom (Wikipedia)

Element: type of atoms having a specific number of protons (109 elements, 90 of which are present on the earth). The number of protons that defines an element is the atomic number.

Variations

Ions are atoms that charged atoms that have either a surplus or deficit of electrons.  Negatively charged ions are anions (-). Positively charged ions are cations (+).  The valance is the charge held by an ion.

atoms with a deficit or surplus of neutrons are called isotopes.

Periodic Table: A table that arranges elements on columns that reflect similarities in properties.

There are several sites available for exploring the Periodic Table:

atom

image from Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jlab). Image URL: http://education.jlab.org/qa/atom_model.html

Atomic bonding

Atoms combine through bonding to form minerals.  The types of bonds are listed below:

Covalent bonds (wikipedia) are accomplished through the sharing of electrons. Covalent bonds are very strong.  For instance, diamond is composed of covalently bonded carbon atoms.

Ionic bonds form between atoms having opposite charges.  Halite (salt) is composed of ionically bonded sodium (Na+) and clorine (Cl-) ions to form NaCl. Ionic bonds are weaker and easily attacked by water and weak acids. Ferromagnesium minerals (e.g. olivine and pyroxene) weather faster than non-ferromagnesium minerals (e.g. quartz and orthoclase) because they have a higher porportion of ionic bonding.

Metallic bonds form when electrons dislocate and freely roam from one atom to the next  of the same element.  Minerals with metallic bonds are commonly opaque, metallic in luster, good conductors and can be deformed without breaking (malleable and ductile), such as gold and copper.

Van der Waals bonding a weak bond between electrostatically neutral atoms having an unequal distribution of atoms.  Atoms develop a bipolar character that produces a weak attraction with other atoms. van der Waals forces produces the weak bond between covalently bonded sheets of carbon atoms in the structure of the mineral graphite.

Elemental abundance in the crust

Minerals

Definition: An inorganic, naturally occurring, homogeneous, crystalline solids having characteristic chemical compositions.

Classification of Minerals
Mineral class
Classifying anion or negatively charged radical
Examples

Native Elements

none: uncombined with other elements

Gold, Copper, Sulfur, Diamond, Graphite

Sulfides

S

Pyrite, Calcopyrite

Oxides

(O2-)

Corundum

Halides

(Fl-, Cll-,Brl-,Il-)

Halite, Silvite, Fluorite

Carbonates

(CO3)2-

Calcite, Aragonite

Sulfates

(SO4)2-

Gypsum, Anhydrite

Silicates

(SiO4)4-

Quartz, Feldspars, Micas, Clays, Pyroxenes, Amphiboles

Classification of Silicates

Chemical classification: based on the presence of iron and/or magnesium

Structural classification: based on the arrangement of SiO2 tetrahedra in the mineral

Additional online resources

Mineral Systems and Nomenclature / Silicates (Büro für angewandte Mineralogie · Dr. Stephan Rudolph ) Excellent images of the silicate classes and their structures

Mineral Information Institute > Mineral Photographs

 

Online Exercises and Test

Print and Play puzzle
Interactive Quizzes
    1. Matching: Minerals and their properties (match the mineral with a verbal description of properties)
    2. Multiple choice: Minerals: properties and classification
    3. Multiple choice: Identification of laboratory minerals and their properties. Identify the mineral and properties from images of specimens.
 
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