Minerals

Rocks are made of minerals. A mineral is a natural, solid, crystalline substance with a nearly fixed chemical make-up: its atoms are stacked in a repeating pattern, and a piece of it from anywhere in the world is made of the same elements in the same proportions. Granite holds at least three (quartz, feldspar and mica), rock salt just one (halite). Minerals form as molten rock cools (the slower, the bigger the crystals), as water holding dissolved salts evaporates, and from other minerals under heat and pressure. Most minerals of the Earth's crust contain silicon and are called silicates.

Depth 1 · Foundation

You can say what makes a substance a mineral, that rocks are made of one or more minerals, name the three main ways minerals form, and tell silicates from non-silicates.

Depths of understanding

1
Foundation
You can say what makes a substance a mineral, that rocks are made of one or more minerals, name the three main ways minerals form, and tell silicates from non-silicates.
Opens after
Rocks, depth 2Minerals are what rocks are made of, so first you look closely at rocks.ElementA mineral is made of one or more elements in fixed proportions.
2
Deeper
You can name minerals we use every day (gems, ores, graphite, halite, gypsum, fluorite, talc, quartz, mica) and what for, say why minerals are non-renewable, and why some, like asbestos, are handled only with care.
Master depth 1 first
OresMany useful minerals are the ores metals come from.