Minerals are naturally occurring inorganic solids that feature distinct chemical composition and order in their arrangement of atoms, and have various physical characteristics which help define them, such as color, streak, hardness, luster, solubility fracture magnetism or cleavage.
Solids, such as wood or pearls, do not change state when exposed to liquid or gas environments. Crystalline structures – in which atoms are organized repeatedly throughout a substance – characterize solids.
Physical Properties
Minerals are inorganic substances found naturally throughout Earth’s crust. Unlike organic (living) substances, which can be manufactured through human intervention or other living systems, minerals cannot be made by any living system themselves. Minerals stand out among solids by having various measurable physical properties which allow us to distinguish and identify them easily.
Luster, color, diaphaneity and crystal shape are the four primary properties used to identify minerals. Additional important properties are hardness, streak (the color left after rubbing powdered mineral against an unglazed porcelain tile), magnetic properties and specific gravity.
Crystals come in all sorts of shapes and habits, from spheres and globules to drusy forms and stellar structures. How a mineral breaks, or cleaves, is another defining characteristic that helps differentiate similar minerals: some break cleanly along perfectly flat planes while others split into pieces with uneven surfaces that break away more unevenly; these properties help differentiate one from the next.
Chemical Properties
Most minerals possess predictable chemical properties that can be tested using simple methods. Minerals can be divided according to their chemical composition and internal atomic structure, enabling us to use other physical characteristics such as hardness, luster, density and fracture (how easily the mineral breaks) to help identify them.
Some feldspars such as plagioclase and orthoclase exhibit unique cleavage surface features called striations lines that require magnification to see clearly. These fine, straight and parallel lines exhibit perfect straightness – providing a special characteristic unique to these minerals.
Other unique properties of minerals include play of colors, fluorescence under black light and reactions to acid. Some minerals also exhibit luminescence or light-emitting qualities when struck by short wavelength ultraviolet radiation – this characteristic is called phosphorescence; Ulexite is one such hydrated borate mineral with this property and often refered to as TV rock due to the images it transmits behind it.
Economical Uses
Many minerals possess invaluable economic uses. Flint was one of the earliest minerals mined, used to fashion arrowheads and knife blades, with other essential materials soon after like copper, silver, tin and gold being discovered as essential to early human civilizations such as wiring copper for wiring systems or soldering electrical connections together with iron plus neodymium and boron used to make magnets. Today we still utilize some of these same minerals in high tech electronics; copper wiring uses, soldering tin connections solder electrical connections together as well as iron combined with metals such as neodymium and boron used together make magnets!
Minerals are vital to economic development. Countries should not delay exploiting mineral resources without strong justification – for instance, increased mineral supply could damage market prices and depress international competitiveness, or an unwillingness to share mineral rents with foreign investors can delay mining projects; but should only do so if they can be done safely and profitably.
Environmental Impact
As global mining becomes ever more significant, Oxfam is encouraging companies to enhance their environmental and social performance. Mining sector stakeholders such as governments, investors and shareholders must work together towards setting clear standards that promote environmental sustainability as well as social development.
Mineral extraction and processing activities can have serious ramifications on water quality, polluting freshwater resources and creating pollution problems for humans and wildlife alike. Pollutants produced during these activities may travel via wind currents or dissolve in water systems to accumulate metals that eventually lead to accumulations at both surface and groundwater systems.
Air pollution is another important consideration. Mining operations produce dust that travels long distances to impact communities not near their site. Furthermore, this dust may contain harmful elements and worsen respiratory conditions in people.
Acid runoff from mining sites can contaminate surface and groundwater sources, harming vegetation, aqua life and infrastructure while making the water unsafe for consumption or irrigation. Furthermore, such pollution may release harmful elements directly into human bodies through food chains or through direct consumption.
