The easiest way that you know a mineral is something like a jewelry, material to the contruction, etc. But the correct definion is that A mineral is an element or chemical compound that is normally crystalline and that has been formed as a result of geological processes.
Nomenclature and classification
A mineral can be also narrowed down in terms of a mineral group, series, species, or variety, in order from most broad to least broad. The way that we can classify the minerals is watching the differences between the chemical and the physical properties.
Common classification
Dana calssification
This kind of calssification use the structure of a mineral in order to calssify the minerals.
Strunz classification
The less commonly used Strunz classification is based on the Dana system, but combines both chemical and structural criteria
Mineral chemistry
Mineral chemistry is the science that study chemical properties of the earth, where we can find in the earth and their abundance in the crust. For example oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron, magnesium, calcium, sodium and potassium.These eight elements, summing to over 98% of the crust by weight, are, in order of decreasing abundance.
In
nature,
minerals
are not
pure
substances,
and are contaminated
by whatever
other
elements
are present
in the
given
chemical system.
As a result,
it
is possible
for one
element
to
be substituted
for another.
Physical
properties
of minerals
A
mineral can be identified by several physical properties, some of them being
sufficient for full identification without equivocation.
Physical
properties
applied
for classification include
crystal
structure and habit,
hardness , lustre, diaphaneity, colour, streak,
cleavage
and fracture, and specific
gravity
Crystal structure and habit
Crystal tructure results
from
the
orderly
geometric
spatial
arrangement
of atoms
in the
internal estructure of a mineral.
Hardness
The
hardness
of a mineral defines how
much
it
can resist
scratching.
The
most
common
scale
of measurement
is the
ordinal Mohs hardness
scale.
Colour
Colour
is the
most
obvious
property
of a mineral, but
it
is often
non-diagnostic.
It
is caused
by electromagnetic
radiation
interacting
with
electrons.
Specific
gravity
Specific
gravity
numerically
describes the
density
of a mineral. The
dimensions
of density are mass
divided
by volume
with
units:
kg/m3
or
g/cm3.
Specific
gravity
measures
how
much
water
a
mineral sample
displaces.
References
http://www.geojeff.org/course-materials/physical-geology-lab/lab-2-minerals-i/mineral-structure/
http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens211/physprop.htm
http://pubsites.uws.edu.au/ima-cnmnc/
http://www.granitegap.com/Minerals/Nickel-Strunz-Classification.aspx
http://www.answers.com/topic/silicate-minerals
http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens211/physprop.htm
http://www.granitegap.com/Minerals/Nickel-Strunz-Classification.aspx
http://www.answers.com/topic/silicate-minerals
