Minerals: properties and applications

Today we will talk about what are minerals. Their properties and application will also be considered. Industry is developing actively in our country. This is necessary in order to improve the standard of living. To do this, we need more and more resources and materials. Most of this raw material is extracted by a man from the depths of the planet Earth. The welfare of all mankind depends on its reserves. Children learn the properties of minerals in class (grade 3). Apparently, the state wants to grow literate ecologists and power engineers! This will be useful for our planet.

What it is?

Almost every person knows what minerals are. The properties of these resources tell us that they are extracted from the bowels of the earth. This raw material can be solid (mineral), liquid (oil) and even gaseous (natural gas). All fossils were called useful. And this means that the substances produced by man are of benefit. How do you know the properties of minerals?

Urgent problem

It would seem that there is nothing complicated in this matter. We know a lot about resources such as minerals. The properties, application and composition of these gifts of nature we studied at school. However, there is a fine line, which is connected with understanding what is useful to a person. Many centuries and centuries passed before our ancestors could understand the usefulness of the stone found on the bank of the river. For a very long time they learned to process this find, so that it could be used as a digging stick.

A lot of time passed before the man realized that under his feet, in the earth's crust, there were a myriad of ore reserves, minerals and other useful raw materials. For several centuries man has been mining minerals, using them for his own good. There is a difficult problem: when a person lifts all these fossils on the surface, the interior of the Earth is depleted. All this leads to the disruption of the geological structure, the surface of the earth is overloaded with the products of fossil processing, as well as by the wastes that are formed during their processing. Every year this environmental problem becomes more acute, a person is forced to look for new ways of mining and processing of minerals.

Classification

Minerals, properties and applications of which we will consider in the framework of this article, have a large number of classifications. Let's look at them in detail. So, the geologists identified:

• Fossil fuels;
• Ores of metals;
• Colored stones;
• Building materials.

Colored stones

Color miners are a special family of hard materials. He was carried to mineral resources. They are not used as a fuel, they are not used to produce various metals or some products of the chemical industry. They are divided into two groups:

• Transparent minerals are precious stones or gems. For example: emerald, aquamarine, diamond, topaz, ruby, amethyst and others.
• Opaque minerals or semiprecious and ornamental stones. For example: malachite, pearl, amber, jasper, agate, lapis lazuli and so on.

Let's get acquainted with precious and semiprecious stones. A diamond is of interest to most of the miners of precious stones. The name he received from the Greek word "adamas", which in translation means "indestructible". And indeed, it is the most solid mineral in nature, and therefore, it is used not only in jewelry matters, but also in the main technical production. Diamond is used for polishing and grinding various solids. It is used for drilling very deep wells. Particularly hard drills are made from the mineral. Also with the help of diamond, metals are also processed. Hard cutters are made of stone.

Today, scientists have achieved the fact that they can receive diamonds artificially , but they are used for technical purposes. Chemists came to the conclusion that the composition of the diamond - it's carbon. It's amazing how much carbon differs in different minerals. The graphite is also based on carbon. But he can not boast of such firmness as a diamond. In addition, the mineral is famous for its play of light. If sunlight passes through the stone, then we can observe with you various bright glare - from blue to red shades. The whole beauty of diamonds a man saw only in the XVIII century, when he learned to make a special cut, which turns a stone into a brilliant diamond. But they are no longer used for technical purposes. A diamond is a stone intended for jewelry art.

Fossil fuels

Valuable to humans, minerals, properties are different. It is not difficult to guess that they include peat, coal, natural gas, oil and oil shale. It turns out that these fossils are used not only as a fuel. Oil, gas, coal and peat are used today by power plants and various industrial enterprises. But this group of fossils is widely used also for other purposes, especially in the chemical industry. Such substances are formed and mined on the site of former lakes, which in the course of time have turned into a swamp, and then into plains. Many chemical processes occurred at the bottom of these reservoirs for many years : deposits of plants and other organisms. Over the years they rotted, then turned into sapropel. Many even did not hear such a word, from Greek it means "rotten" and "dirt". Thus, sapropel is the dirt from the decayed remains of living organisms. It becomes peat bogs or turns into brown coal.

Scientists have noticed that the process of formation of fossil fuels is very complex and long, it requires a lot of time. For example, peat bogs are generally formed over several millennia. Ecologists say that it is necessary to know and remember the fans of draining swamps. The very first places of extraction of oil shale appeared more than a billion years ago. Almost half of all the oil shale appeared in the Paleozoic era. Coal layers were formed about 350 million years ago. In those distant times, our planet resembled lush thickets of giant ferns, horsetails and plaunts. Thanks to these plants, the soil did not have time to decay, turning into a wood mass. Plants and trees that died off, fell into the water, were filled with clay and sand, did not decompose, but gradually formed and turned into coal. If you take a piece of such coal in your hand, you can safely imagine that now in your hand is a guest from the distant past.

Ore

Let's move on to the next category - metal ores. On the outskirts of cities, very often there are announcements about the reception of ferrous and non-ferrous metals. You should know that the black resource does not look black in color. These are the metals that are used to produce iron and steel by smelting. These include iron, manganese, vanadium or chromium. They come in silver or white shades. Nonferrous metals include nickel, zinc, copper, gold, lead and others. Most of them were formed in deep magma rocks. Gradually they rise to the earth's surface. Due to the natural effects of air, sun and water, mountains are destroyed, and in their sedimentary rocks, metal deposits appear and open to humans.

Metals are used in light and heavy industries. They make weapons, parts for transport, and so on. The strength of the product depends on the material from which it was made. Steel is famous for its strength. Aluminum is widely used in aircraft construction, because it is very light. And electrical wiring is made of copper, as it best conducts electric current.

Construction Materials

Properties of minerals have been valued since ancient times. Of these, people built various buildings. For example, ancient civilizations from marble, granite or limestone built various occult objects - temples, obelisks, pyramids and so on. Limestone very easily sawed into blocks, so the ancient Egyptian pyramids built from this fossil.

Properties of minerals: clay and sand

Clay man began to use to make dishes, bricks, tiles and various other items of sanitary ware. It is known that it is used and now as a heater. It has a wonderful property - water resistance. Clay has medicinal properties. It can be of different colors. Red clay contains iron and potassium. The substance of green color has copper and iron. Cobalt was found in blue clay. Carbon and iron are found in dark brown and black clay.

Minerals: sand

The properties of clay and sand are very valuable for humanity. This is a kind of the first building materials. From the sand have learned to make glass. To wash dishes, sand and water were often used. This mixture perfectly washed away any pollution. Since the school day, we are beginning to study the properties of minerals (grade 3). People use these resources everywhere. But are they so endless? An important task of all mankind is to learn to use rationally what nature gives us.