Minerals and Rocks

Minerals are natural materials.
They can be part of rocks, animal bones and shells.  

There are minerals on the Earth's surface and under the ground.
Minerals have different:

• Shape: Some minerals have a regular hsaape, like pyrite. Others have an irregular shape, like turquoise or quartz.
• Colour: Each mineral has a typical colour or colours.
• Malachite is green, marble is white and others can be severeal colours, like quart.
• Shiny or dull: Some minerals are shiny, like pyrite. Others are dull, like chalk.
• Hard or soft (hardness): Diamond is the hardest mineral. Gypsum is the softest.

There is a scale of hardness for minerals called the Mohs scale.

Some examples of classification of minerals are: 

• Gypsum is a white or red mineral. It is dull and soft. 

• Pyrite is a cube shaped mineral. It is grey and shiny.

We use minerals like gypsum to build buildings.

We use minerals like diamonds, gold or silver  to make jewellery.




Pyrite is known as fool's gold because it looks like real gold.





Minerals are very useful in everyday life.
If tou look around your home and on the street you can find minerals everywhere.
There are minerals in your bathroom (talcum powder), in your pencil (graphite), we can find gold, silver and quartz in our digital watches, rubies, emeralds and diamonds in our jewellery. We use gypsum to make plaster casts for broken bones and copper to make pans, electric cables and coins.

Rocks are materials made up of minerals.
They form the solid part of the Earth.
Some examples of rocks are clay, marble, clay and granite

Some rocks are made up on fonly one mineral. For example, marble is made up of calcite.

Many rocks are made up of a mixture of minerals. For example, granite is made up of feldspar, mica and quartz.

Rocks can be hard, like marble, or soft, like clay.

They can be different colours: coal is black, Marble can be several different colours. Petroleum is a liquid rock


We dig mines to obtain rocks that are under the ground. For example, coal.
We dig quarries to obtain rocks, that are on the surface. For example, granite.

Some kind of rocks (like slate, marble and granite) are used for building (in constructions). For example, granite is used to make walls. Clay is used to make bricks. Slate is used to make roof tiles.

Other materials, like coal or petroleum, is used for fuel. When they burn they give off heat.

In industry. Petroleum is transformed into plastics, paint and fertilizers.
For decoration. Marble is used to make statues and ornaments.
For example the famous statue David of Michelangelo Buonarotti is made up of a huge block of marble.






Video A brief Introduction to minerals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a7p1NFn64s

Video Erase una vez el Hombre: Nace la Tierra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOFB3JfYq5c

Most part of information and images are taken from the book: Essential Science 4. Science, Geography and History (2006). Santillana Education, S.L / Richmond Publishing