GEOL 10113 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Magnesium
Document Summary
Minerals have the same composition but different forms and properties. It contains very little material that we can actually use. Most abundant mineral group in the crust. The basic building block is the silica tetrahedron. The crust is composed of 8 elements. Oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Elements bond because they want to have shells that are full. Sometimes things with the same chemical composition can create different elements. I. e. - graphite and diamonds are composed entirely of carbon. Magnesium and iron in minerals causes them to be darker. Aluminum, potassium, and sodium cause them to be lighter minerals. A vast majority of the minerals that we need/use come from the 8% of non-silicate minerals. Non-silicates provide most of our mineral needs. The chemical or physical breakdown of rocks and minerals at the earth"s surface. The chemically and physically broken down materials.
