Minerals

Minerals typically are composed of two or more elements and have the following properties:

• inorganic- not derived from living things
• naturally occuring- not "fake"
• solids- cannot be a liquid or gas
• crystalline shape- orderly arrangement of atoms
• chemical composition- definite composition

An interesting note that "ice" from a glacier is considered a mineral.

Thanks to Philip Staublin for pointing out that there are some minerals that are considered "native minerals" composed of only one element. This is for Philip- good catch- we did cover native minerals in class but it is not going to be a test question- so I did not blog it, Mr. V.