Mineral | Types & Uses | Britannica
2024年8月25日 · Mineral, naturally occurring homogeneous solid with a definite chemical composition and a highly ordered atomic arrangement. Usually formed by inorganic processes, there are several thousand known mineral species, about 100 of which constitute the major mineral components of rocks.
Mineral - Classification, Properties, Types | Britannica
2024年8月25日 · Mineral - Classification, Properties, Types: Since the middle of the 19th century, minerals have been classified on the basis of their chemical composition. Under this scheme, they are divided into classes according to their dominant anion or …
Rock | Definition, Characteristics, Formation, Cycle, Classification ...
2024年9月11日 · Rock, in geology, naturally occurring and coherent aggregate of one or more minerals. Such aggregates constitute the basic unit of which the solid Earth is composed and typically form recognizable and mappable volumes. The three major classes of rock are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock.
Feldspar | Properties, Uses, Types, & Facts | Britannica
2024年10月1日 · Feldspar, any of a group of aluminosilicate minerals that contain calcium, sodium, or potassium. Feldspars make up more than half of Earth’s crust, and professional literature about them constitutes a large percentage of the literature of mineralogy. Learn more about the properties and uses of feldspar in this article.
Obsidian | Rock, Color, Composition, & Uses | Britannica
obsidian, igneous rock occurring as a natural glass formed by the rapid cooling of viscous lava from volcanoes. Obsidian is extremely rich in silica (about 65 to 80 percent), is low in water, and has a chemical composition similar to rhyolite. Obsidian has a glassy lustre and is slightly harder than window glass.
Silica mineral | Uses, Properties & Structure | Britannica
Silica mineral, any of the forms of silicon dioxide (SiO2), including quartz, tridymite, cristobalite, coesite, stishovite, lechatelierite, and chalcedony. Various kinds of silica minerals have been produced synthetically; one is keatite. Silica minerals make up approximately 26 percent of …
Salt | Chemistry, History, Occurrence, Manufacture, Uses, & Facts ...
2024年9月18日 · Salt, also called sodium chloride, mineral substance of great importance to human and animal health, as well as to industry. The mineral form halite, or rock salt, is sometimes called common salt to distinguish it from a class of chemical compounds called salts.
Zinc | Properties, Uses, & Facts | Britannica
2024年8月21日 · The major uses of zinc metal are in galvanizing iron and steel against corrosion and in making brasses and alloys for die-casting. Zinc itself forms an impervious coating of its oxide on exposure to the atmosphere, and hence the metal is more resistant to ordinary atmospheres than iron and corrodes at a much lower rate.
Boron | Properties, Uses, & Facts | Britannica
2024年8月22日 · Boron occurs combined as borax, kernite, and tincalconite (hydrated sodium borates), the major commercial boron minerals, especially concentrated in the arid regions of California, and as widely dispersed minerals such as colemanite, ulexite, and tourmaline.
Characteristics, Formation, Texture, Uses, & Facts - Britannica
2024年9月19日 · Limestone is a source of lime (calcium oxide), which is used in steel manufacturing, mining, paper production, water treatment and purification, and plastic production. Lime also has major applications in the manufacture of glass and in agriculture.