EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -A mineral is a natural substance with distinctive chemical and physical properties, composition, and atomic structure. The definition of an economic mineral is broader, and includes minerals, metals, rocks and hydrocarbons (solid and liquid) that are extracted from the earth by mining, quarrying and pumping.

Detailed explanation-2: -natural (or made in a way that mimics nature). Some minerals are made in labs, by people, but because they are made using the same processes that nature uses, we can still consider them minerals. A “synthetic diamond” that is chemically and structurally the same as a natural diamond is still a mineral.

Detailed explanation-3: -Minerals are substances naturally formed in the Earth. Minerals are typically solid, inorganic, have a crystal structure and are formed by geological processes naturally. A mineral may consist of a single chemical element or a compound more usually.

Detailed explanation-4: -Examples include quartz, feldspar minerals, calcite, sulfur and the clay minerals such as kaolinite and smectite. Talc and quartz are common minerals, distinguished by different physical properties.