An Introduction to Minerals



Minerals are naturally occurring homogeneous inorganic solids that have a definite chemical composition and an internal arrangement of atoms. Although about 3000 minerals have been identified and classified, less than a dozen are found commonly. One of the most common minerals on the surface of the earth is quartz (SiO2). The image shown on the side is an Amethyst crystal, which is the purple variety of quartz.






Homework - Due Tuesday, November 17, 2009:


In textbook, read chapter 5, pages 90-91; 96-98; do questions 1and 2 on page 95 and questions 1-3 on page 102.

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