Meet the Guide Editor
Message from the Editor:
As a scientist with a background in trace metals analysis for environmental and human health purposes, minerals are of great interest to me. In human health terms, certain minerals are essential for good health but too much or too little can be dangerous; others play no beneficial role in health.
Minerals Contributors

Guide to Minerals

The chemical definition of a mineral is still subject to some debate, but everybody agrees that (in its pure form) a mineral has a fixed ratio of its constituelent elements (its stoichiometry) and that most minerals are crystaline. Minerals are formed by geological processes and are the forms of ores dug out of the ground for industrial exploitation (following processing). Since minerals can have more than one distinct phase (inclusions), they are not chemically pure in nature as some definitions would have you believe. Mineral exploitation is incredibly important in our modern world as it provides essential components for a vast range of products from micro-electronics to bridges. Some minerals (or more accurately the major cations they are composed of) are essential for human life. This guide brings together the most popular articles published on BrightHub on the subject of minerals.

Quartz

Latest Articles on Minerals
Rocks Vs Minerals: Same or Different?

Rocks and minerals are some of the most fascinating and valuable resources known to man. We will examine what they are a little more closely as well as look at some fun facts about...

 Rock On! Teaching Kindergarten Students about Rocks and Minerals

Children will discover the importance of this natural resource which can be found anywhere from the playground to the Grand Canyon. Your “rockhounds” will enjoy this kindergarten...
Go Beyond the Rock Collection: Activities for Teaching Rocks and Minerals

In primary grades, students learn about rocks and minerals in more than one year. One fun, but often overdone activity, is to create a rock collection. Instead of doing this, why not...

 Using Coal Petrography for Combustion Problem Solving

Petrographic analysis can give useful information about the combustion of pulverized coal. Petrographic analysis of coal has been used to evaluate the efficiency of a pulverized coal...
Most Popular Articles on Minerals
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    		 All About Chemical Weathering

    Chemical weathering occurs when rocks which formed deep underground are exposed to environmental conditions at the Earth's surface. Chemical reactions occur to bring them back into equilibrium with...
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    		 Rock On! Teaching Kindergarten Students about Rocks and Minerals

    Children will discover the importance of this natural resource which can be found anywhere from the playground to the Grand Canyon. Your “rockhounds” will enjoy this kindergarten theme unit...
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    		 Benefits of e-Waste Recycling

    Disposal of e-waste raises serious environmental and health issues. Recycling e-waste is not just a viable solution to eliminate the harmful effects of e-waste disposal, but a sound business proposition...
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    		 Use a Spin Dryer for a Genuine Heatless Option

    The electric and the gas clothes dryers are both greedy energy eaters. Most of the energy that they use goes into heating the air that dries your clothing. But, what if you did not need all of that heat...
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    		 Types of Igneous Rocks

    Igneous rocks can be felsic or mafic, coarse-grained or fine-grained, and intrusive or extrusive. The two most common types are granite and basalt....
More About Minerals
Let's Rock! Fun Activities for Elementary Students on Rocks & Minerals

What does an avocado and a chocolate chip cookie have in common? They are ideal to teach students about rocks, minerals, and the layers of the earth with....

 Geology Lesson Plans: Identifying Rocks and Minerals

Do your students find rocks and minerals boring? These rocks and minerals lesson plans are a great way to help spice up your geology lesson plans....