How Many Types of Minerals are There

Introduction

Majorly there are two types of minerals metallic and non-metallic. Before learning about the types of minerals, we must first discuss what minerals are. We can easily categorise minerals based on their structures, chemical, and physical properties and much more, which we will cover in this article along with their examples.

Definition of Minerals

They are typically inorganic and solid in character and are created by geological processes. The crust of the earth contains a small number of biological materials as well as inorganic ones like silver, gold, diamonds, etc. Thousands of minerals are yet to be identified. A mineral is created by natural processes and has a specific chemical makeup. Physical characteristics of minerals including crystalline structure, hardness, streak, and cleavage can be used to identify them. The many gemstones that are created in factories, such as sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds, are identical, they are hence known as man-made minerals.

Some Examples of Minerals

Minerals are naturally occurring solid materials. A crystal is formed from the atoms that make up a mineral. Although impurities or material that is not a part of the crystal that may be present in it, all crystals of the same type have the same chemical composition, which is the type of atoms in that crystal. Minerals include things like gold, diamonds, rock salt, and the graphite needed to form pencil "lead."

Even though each of these minerals is unique, they frequently resemble one another or other substances. An emerald and a piece of green plastic could appear to be the same thing. A very pure quartz crystal may resemble a rough diamond. Mineral identification techniques include the Mols hardness test, a streak test, colour, lustre, cleavage, and fracture.

Metallic Minerals

As the name suggests, metallic minerals are those that are produced when certain metals interact with particular other elements. These minerals are related to metals in terms of their physical characteristics, such as brilliance. It is the main source of metals, and by mining these minerals, metals can be extracted. Based on their chemical makeup, metallic minerals are found in the earth's crust as oxides, sulphides, carbonates, halides, and other chemical compounds. The only metallic mineral that can be found in its pure state is gold.

Metallic minerals include things like bauxite, magnetite, iron ore, pyrite, hematite, and others.

Ferrous minerals and non-ferrous minerals are the two categories used to categorise metallic minerals because iron makes up the majority of the earth's crust. Therefore, ferrous minerals are those that include iron in their chemical compositions, whereas non-ferrous minerals are those that do not. Iron-containing minerals include iron ore, manganese, nickel, and chromite. Gold, copper, silver, lead, tin, and other non-ferrous minerals are among them.

Non-Metallic Minerals

Minerals that exhibit a non-metallic sheen or shine are classified as non-metallic. Their chemical makeup does not reflect the concentration of the accessible metals. The three non-metallic minerals that are most frequently found are limestone, gypsum, and mica.

• The majority of bauxite ore is found in heavily worn rocks. Bauxite deposits can be found in various volcanic rocks.

• Produced from iron ore is iron metal. We must remove it from iron ore by removing the impurities because it never occurs in its pure form.

• The oldest and most valuable element that we are aware of is gold.

• We can locate manganese ore in many different forms all over the world. It is a silvery brittle or in the shape of a grey-white metallic ore.

Chemical Composition of Minerals

Only eight elements make up over 98.5% of the Earth's crust. Oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium are the eight elements mentioned. Most minerals are made up of these elements.

Each mineral has a unique chemical makeup. Only silver atoms form the silver mineral, and only carbon atoms make up the diamond, yet chemical compounds make up the majority of minerals. Each mineral has a unique chemical composition. SiO2 is the chemical formula for quartz, which is composed of two oxygen atoms joined to a silicon atom. A mineral is not quartz if it has any additional components in its crystal structure. Calcite is a softer mineral having calcium and oxygen in addition to carbon, while diamond is a hard mineral with covalently bound carbon.

The link between calcium (Ca), carbon (C), and oxygen (O) minerals may be seen in the structure of calcite.

There are various chemical compositions for some minerals. The elements silicon, oxygen, iron, magnesium, or both are always present in olivine.

Classification of Minerals

Chemical characteristics are used to categorise minerals. The anion serves as the chemical foundation for categorising minerals, except the native class element. The negatively charged ion is the one that often appears charged after the mineral's chemical formula. For instance, the sulphur ion, which is denoted as S2-, provides the basis for the sulphides. For instance, pyrite, FeS2, is a sulphide mineral. Sometimes the anion is a member of the mineral class and takes the polyatomic form of (CO32-). This is the carbonate ion. The following list includes the main mineral classes:

• Silicates

• Sulphides

• Carbonates

• Oxides

• Halides

• Sulphates

• Phosphates

• Native Elements

Silicates: Silicate is a tetrahedral-shaped polyatomic anion with the formula (SiO4)4-. The majority of the minerals in the crust of the planet are silicates. Every silicate mineral is composed of silicon-oxygen tetrahedra (SiO4)4- in various bonding configurations that result in various crystal lattices.

Sulphides: These are built around the S2- sulphide ion. Pyrite FeS2, galena PbS, and pure zinc sphalerite ZnS are a few examples. Metals including zinc, lead, copper, and tin are extracted from certain sulphides.

Carbonates: These are based on the (CO3)2- carbonate ion. Carbonate minerals include dolomite, calcite, and CaCO3. Natural rainfall is somewhat acidic, and carbonate minerals dissolve rather rapidly in water, especially in acidic water.

Oxides: These are based on O2-, an anion of oxygen. Iron oxides come in a variety of forms, such as hematite Fe2O3, magnetite Fe3O4, and pyrolusite MgO.

Halides: Any halogen element, including fluoride F-, chloride Cl-, bromide Br-, iodide I-, and astatine At-, is present in halides in the form of an anion. Halide minerals include halite or NaCl.

Sulphates: The anion form of the polyatomic sulphate ion, (SO4)2-, is found in sulphates. CaSO4 is a sulphate found in anhydrite.

Phosphates: The anion of phosphates is the polyatomic phosphate ion (PO4)3-. A phosphate mineral called fluorapatite, Ca5(PO4)3F is what gives our teeth their hardness.

Native Elements: There is only one element in these elements. All of these native element minerals, including gold (Au), native copper (Cu), diamond, and graphite, are composed of carbon. Therefore, unless and until they have also been found in nature, the elements that are refined and crystallised in a laboratory do not qualify as minerals.

Uses of Minerals

Since copper is an excellent conductor of electricity, it is employed in electrical equipment. Clay is used to make cement and other products that aid in building roadways. Borax is used in cleaning solutions for fibreglass. The following are some examples of how minerals are used in daily life:

Use of minerals in the body.

Application of metallic minerals.

Minerals are used economically.

Other uses for minerals include building construction, the creation of defence-related weaponry, equipment, jewellery production, fertiliser synthesis, etc.

Physical Properties of Minerals

Physical characteristics can be used to distinguish between minerals. They have a dependable structure and distinctive morphological characteristics.

Colour: Some minerals come in a variety of colours or have various hues. For instance, quartz (SiO2) is available in a variety of hues. This characteristic is typically very variable as a result of minute variations in mineral chemistry.

Crystallised form: Crystals are the smallest minerals and they reflect the molecular geometry of the mineral. A mineral crystal's interior atomic structure has a significant impact on its external shape or crystal form.

Density: The ratio of specific gravity to an equivalent volume of water is called density. The densities of minerals range from water to pure gold. Time-consuming processes must be used to determine a mineral's density.

Cleavage and Fracture: Cleavage refers to clean breaks along the mineral's planes, whilst fracture refers to uneven fissures in the substance. It produces smooth, flat surfaces.

Hardness: Scratch resistance and strength rather than how easily something breaks; measured using the Mohs scale, diamonds score a ten, indicating they are strong.

Lustre: A mineral's look in reflected light; it is frequently shiny, glossy, or dull and non-metallic.

Streak: The shade of the powdered mineral form that is seen when a mineral is scraped against specific surfaces.

Conclusion

As we have already covered, a mineral is an inorganic, crystalline solid that is found in nature and has a specific chemical makeup and crystal structure. The regular, recurring patterns of atom arrangement in minerals can be utilised to pinpoint a specific mineral. It is categorised based on its chemical makeup, which is manifested in its physical characteristics. The physical characteristics that are frequently used to identify minerals are described in this article along with their categorization, colour, crystal shape, hardness, density, lustre, and cleavage are some of them. We also know the features of many sorts of minerals.