What is a mineral?
A mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic solid, that has a crystal structure and a definite chemical composition.
Minerals:
- are naturally occurring.
- come from substances found in Earth’s crust
- are inorganic
- are not from materials that were once part of a living thing
- are solid
- have a definite volume and shape
- have definite Chemical Composition
- always contain certain elements in definite proportions
-an element is a substance composed of a single kind of atom.
-almost all minerals are compounds of two or more elements that are chemically joined.