Nature gives a person the opportunity to enjoy the benefits it produces. Therefore, people live quite comfortably and have everything they need. After all, water, s alt, metals, fuel, electricity and much more - everything is created naturally and subsequently transformed into the form necessary for a person.
The same goes for natural products like minerals. These numerous diverse crystalline structures are an important raw material for a huge number of the most diverse industrial processes in the economic activity of people. Therefore, we will consider what types of minerals are and what these compounds are in general.
Minerals: general characteristics
In the generally accepted sense in mineralogy, the term "mineral" means a solid body consisting of chemical elements and having a number of individual physical and chemical properties. In addition, it should be formed only naturally, under the influence of certain natural processes.
Minerals can be formed as simple substances (native) and complex. The ways of their formation are also different. There are such processes that contribute to their formation:
- magmatic;
- hydrothermal;
- sedimentary;
- metamorphogenic;
- biogenic.
Large aggregates of minerals, collected in a single system, are called rocks. Therefore, these two concepts should not be confused. Mountain minerals are mined precisely by crushing and processing whole pieces of rocks.
The chemical composition of the compounds under consideration can be different and contain a large number of different substances-impurities. However, there is always one main thing that dominates the composition. Therefore, it is it that is decisive, and impurities are not taken into account.
The structure of minerals
The structure of minerals is crystalline. There are several options for lattices with which it can be represented:
- cubic;
- hexagonal;
- rhombic;
- tetragonal;
- monoclinic;
- trigonal;
- triclinic.
These compounds are classified according to the chemical composition of the determining substance.
Types of minerals
The following classification can be given, which reflects the main part of the composition of the mineral.
- Native or simple substances. These are also minerals. Examples are: gold, iron, carbon in the form of diamond, coal, anthracite, sulfur, silver, selenium, cob alt, copper, arsenic, bismuth and many others.
- Halides, which include chlorides, fluorides, bromides. These are minerals, examples of which are known to everyone: rock s alt (sodium chloride) or halite, sylvin, fluorite.
- Oxides and hydroxides. Formed by metal oxides andnon-metals, that is, by combining them with oxygen. This group includes minerals whose names are chalcedony, corundum (ruby, sapphire), magnetite, quartz, hematite, rutile, casematite and others.
- Nitrates. Examples: potassium and sodium nitrate.
- Borates: optical calcite, eremeyite.
- Carbonates are s alts of carbonic acid. These are minerals whose names are as follows: malachite, aragonite, magnesite, limestone, chalk, marble and others.
- Sulfates: gypsum, barite, selenite.
- Tungstates, molybdates, chromates, vanadates, arsenates, phosphates - all these are s alts of the corresponding acids that form minerals of various structures. Names - nepheline, apatite and others.
- Silicates. Silicic acid s alts containing the SiO4 group. Examples of such minerals are as follows: beryl, feldspar, topaz, garnets, kaolinite, talc, tourmaline, jadeine, lapis lazuli and others.
In addition to the above groups, there are also organic compounds that form whole natural deposits. For example, peat, coal, urkit, calcium oxalates, iron and others. And also several carbides, silicides, phosphides, nitrides.
Native elements
These are minerals (photo can be seen below), which are formed by simple substances. For example:
- gold in the form of sand and nuggets, ingots;
- diamond and graphite are allotropic modifications of the carbon crystal lattice;
- copper;
- silver;
- iron;
- sulfur;
- platinum metal group.
Often these substances occur in the form of large aggregations with other minerals, pieces of rocks and ores. Extraction and their use in industry are important for humans. They are the basis, the raw material for obtaining materials, from which a variety of household items, structures, jewelry, appliances, etc. are subsequently made.
Phosphates, arsenates, vanadates
This group includes rocks and minerals that are predominantly of exogenous origin, that is, they are found in the outer layers of the earth's crust. Only phosphates are formed inside. There are actually quite a lot of s alts of phosphoric, arsenic and vanadic acids. However, if we consider the overall picture, then in general their percentage in the bark is small.
There are several of the most common crystals that belong to this group:
- apatite;
- vivianite;
- lindakerite;
- rosenite;
- carnotite;
- pascoit.
As already noted, these minerals form rocks of quite impressive size.
Oxides and hydroxides
This group of minerals includes all oxides, both simple and complex, which are formed by metals, non-metals, intermetallic compounds and transition elements. The total percentage of these substances in the earth's crust is 5%. The only exception that applies to silicates, and not to the group under consideration, is silicon oxide SiO2 with all its varieties.
There are a huge number of examples of such minerals, but we will designate the most common ones:
- Granite.
- Magnetite.
- Hematite.
- Ilmenite.
- Columbite.
- Spinel.
- Lime.
- Gibbsit.
- Romaneshit.
- Holfertite.
- Corundum (ruby, sapphire).
- Bauxite.
Carbonates
This class of minerals includes a fairly large variety of representatives, which are also of great practical importance for humans. Thus, there are the following subclasses or groups:
- calcite;
- dolomite;
- aragonite;
- malachite;
- soda minerals;
- bastnasite.
Each subclass includes from several units to dozens of representatives. In total, there are about a hundred different mineral carbonates. The most common ones are:
- marble;
- limestone;
- malachite;
- apatite;
- siderite;
- smithsonite;
- magnesite;
- carbonatite and others.
Some are valued as a very common and important building material, others are used to create jewelry, and others are used in technology. However, all are important and are being mined very actively.
Silicates
The most diverse group of minerals in terms of external forms and number of representatives. This variation is due to the fact that the silicon atoms underlying theirchemical structure, are able to combine into different types of structures, coordinating several oxygen atoms around them. So, the following types of structures can be formed:
- island;
- chain;
- tape;
- leafy.
These minerals, photos of which can be seen in the article, are known to everyone. At least some of them. After all, they include such as:
- topaz;
- garnet;
- chrysoprase;
- rhinestone;
- opal;
- chalcedony and others.
They find use in jewelry, valued as durable designs for use in engineering.
You can also give an example of minerals whose names are not so well known to ordinary people not connected with mineralogy, but nevertheless they are very important in industry:
- Dathonite.
- Olivine.
- Murmanite.
- Chrysocol.
- Eudialyte.
- Beryl.
