Earth Sciences 2281A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Crystal, Native Metal, Chalcopyrite

• School: Western University
• Department: Earth Sciences
• Course: Earth Sciences 2281A/B
• Professor: Robert Schincariol

Document Summary

Crystalline substance is one in which the atoms are arranged in a regular repeating, orderly pattern. Crystal is any homogeneous solid that is crystalline. "we can identify minerals visually by if something cleaves off in even sheets" Si and o are the two most abundant elements in the earth"s crust and combine to form the basic building block for most common minerals. It"s the building block of all the rocks and minerals. How we put those together determines what kind of rocks we"re going to get and thus (if they"re structure is crystalline) if they"re minerals. When we join silica structure and they share it = silicate. We join silica by sharing the oxygen b/w different tetrahedrons, creating chains. How we share it manifests itself in how materials react when they are cleaved. Because of the crystalline structure, minerals are rocks that can be cleaved into super thin sheets down to the atomic level.