Characteristics of Minerals

Eevery mineral has these five characteristics: naturally occuring, inorganic, solid, crystal structure and definit chemical composition. If a mineral misses any of this charactersitics, you can predict and know that, that one is not a mineral. First we have naturally occuring; these means "the substance must be formed by processes in the natural world. " For example quartz is formed when its composition cools and hardens bellow earths surface. When materials such as brick and glass are made by people, we can obviously say that its not a mineral.

Another characteristic that all minerals have is that they are inorganic, this means that "the mineral cannot form from materials that were once part of a living thing." For exmample coal is not mineral, because it comes from remains of dead plants and animals. Solid is another mineral characteristic, this means that it has a definite volume and a definite chape. The particles that make a mineral are all squeezed together, that why it is a solid material; in comparison to water or vapor, the particles are spread.

Christal structure is another characteristic of minerals; which means "the particles of a mineral line up ina a pattern that repeats over and over again." This process of repetition of particles forms a crystal. The last characteristic that all minerals chare is definit chemical composition, this means that "a mineral always contains certain elements in definit portions." Almost all minerals are compound, and a good example is quartz, that has one atom of silicon for every two atoms of oxygen.