Minerals Essay

Minerals are a very important part of the landscape of the world.   People also heavily rely on minerals to survive.   There are methods to determine a specific mineral.   While rocks may contain minerals, they themselves are not minerals.   Certain requirements must be present to be classified as a mineral.  
    A material must meet a set of four main requirements to be considered a mineral.   A material must be a naturally occurring solid, be formed by an inorganic process, have a characteristic crystal structure, and possess a specific chemical formula.   In some cases, the chemical formula may substitute one element with another that is similar is size and bonding properties.   Scientists use sensitive microscopes to look at the crystal structures and, in some cases, to determine the difference between minerals.
    There are six methods used to tell the difference between minerals.   The methods are luster, crystal form of the mineral, hardness, mineral break patterns, color and streak, and density.   Luster is the way and intensity the mineral reflects light.   Some types of luster are shiny, dull, pearly, resinous, greasy, and vitreous.   The crystal form of the mineral is guided by Steno’s Law, which states that the angle between any two corresponding faces of a mineral is constant for that mineral.   Some minerals grow in such a distinctive pattern that their shape is called the minerals habit and can be used to identify the mineral.   The crystal structure as well as the atom bonds defines the hardness.   The strength of the bonds is directly related to the hardness of the mineral.   Hardness values can also be assigned to a mineral based on which mineral is able to scratch the other.   Breaking a mineral and analyzing the cleavage surfaces of the remaining fragments define mineral break patterns.   As described in Steno’s Law for crystal form angles, the same distinctive constant patterns exist for cleavage patterns.   While color can be used to differentiate...